A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday that Sigal Chattah has been serving unlawfully as the acting U.S. attorney for Nevada, affirming a district court order that disqualified her from the post. The decision, issued as a published opinion in case No. 25-6470, means Chattah can no longer oversee federal prosecutions in the state.
How the Appointment Worked
Chattah, a former Nevada Republican National Committeewoman, was named interim U.S. attorney by President Trump on April 1, 2025. Under federal law, that kind of interim appointment carries a hard 180-day limit. It is a deliberate design: the position is powerful enough that Congress wanted the Senate to sign off on whoever holds it long term.
The day before that 180-day clock expired, Attorney General Pam Bondi designated Chattah as the office’s “first assistant.” The office had no confirmed U.S. attorney at the time, so it was already vacant. Bondi’s position was that the first-assistant designation allowed Chattah to step up and serve as acting U.S. attorney for another 210 days under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
In practice, that turned a temporary appointment with an expiration date into a much longer tenure without a Senate vote ever taking place.
What the Ninth Circuit Held
The three-judge panel framed the issue plainly. The question, the judges wrote, was whether the attorney general can make someone an acting U.S. attorney — “bypassing the usual requirement that a U.S. Attorney be confirmed by the Senate” — by designating that person as first assistant to an office that is already vacant.
Their answer was direct: “We hold that the Attorney General cannot do so.”
Because the ruling was issued as a published opinion, it is binding precedent within the Ninth Circuit rather than a one-off order limited to this dispute. The panel affirmed the district court’s disqualification order rather than creating a new remedy of its own.
What Happens to the Cases
The practical effect is immediate, but narrower than it might sound. The disqualification order had been stayed while the appeal was pending, which is why Chattah continued running the office through the litigation. That stay is now lifted, and she is off federal prosecutions in Nevada.
The criminal cases themselves are not disturbed. The panel dismissed the defendants’ cross-appeals for lack of appellate jurisdiction, and the indictments brought during her tenure remain intact. No charges were thrown out, and no defendant was released as a result of this decision.
The challenge was filed in September 2025 by the Nevada federal public defender’s office on behalf of people who had been indicted while Chattah was running the office. Their argument was not about the strength of the evidence against them. It was about whether the person supervising those prosecutions held the job lawfully in the first place.
Reactions and What Comes Next
The Justice Department signaled it is not done fighting. “We disagree with the Ninth Circuit’s decision and we plan to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,” the department said. That matters for how far this ruling reaches: for now it binds the Ninth Circuit, and the high court has not weighed in.
Nevada still has no Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney. The White House nominated Las Vegas lawyer George Kelesis in February 2026, and Sen. Jacky Rosen, the state’s Democratic senator, is still reviewing the nomination.
The Nevada case is also not the only one of its kind. In a separate case decided December 1, 2025, the Third Circuit upheld the disqualification of Alina Habba in New Jersey; she resigned the following week, and a request for rehearing was denied in January 2026. Judges in Virginia and California reached similar conclusions in earlier, unrelated disputes over the same appointment mechanism.
What This Means for Americans
A U.S. attorney decides who gets charged with a federal crime and who does not. The Senate confirmation requirement is the check on that power — the one moment when elected representatives get to examine a nominee before handing over that authority. When that step is skipped through a paperwork designation, the check does not fail loudly. It simply never happens. A unanimous panel of federal judges just said the law does not allow it, and that ruling stands unless the Supreme Court says otherwise.
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