Nevada public defenders argue state's acting US attorney is serving without Senate confirmation

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Sigal Chattah’s role as Nevada’s acting U.S. attorney is being challenged by Nevada’s federal public defender’s office, which argued in legal filings that her continuation as the top prosecutor in the state on an interim basis is illegitimate.

In three separate federal court filings last week, the office argued in otherwise unrelated criminal cases that President Donald Trump’s administration pursued illegal “personnel maneuvers” that allowed Chattah to remain Nevada’s top federal law enforcement officer after her first stint as the interim U.S. attorney expired in July. Similar battles are playing out in other states over Trump appointees to the role.

The filings ask the judges to disqualify Chattah and allow other Nevada federal judges to name a new interim U.S. attorney, and contends that several indictments brought while Chattah was acting U.S. attorney be dropped.

Her interim appointment lasted 120 days, but Trump then named her the state’s acting U.S. attorney, which allowed her to stay in the position for an additional 210 days. Nevada’s two senators, Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, have vehemently opposed Chattah’s appointment to the position, calling her a partisan operative and an extremist who is unfit for the job, and vowed to block her if the administration seeks to appoint her permanently to the role.

The Trump administration has pursued similar efforts in other states, but they have faced legal scrutiny. Last month, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that the state’s acting U.S. attorney — Alina Habba, who was also previously the state’s interim U.S. attorney — was unlawfully working as the state’s top federal prosecutor. After the ruling, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said “we will protect her position from activist judicial attacks.”

The challenges in Nevada follow a similar legal playbook. The state’s federal public defender’s office is arguing that cases against three people who were indicted while Chattah was the acting U.S. attorney should be thrown out.

“The Court should dismiss the indictment; at a minimum, it should disqualify Ms. Chattah from this prosecution, as well as attorneys operating under her direction; and the judges of this district should exercise their authority to appoint a proper interim U.S. Attorney,” the challenges said in identical language.

When reached for comment on Tuesday, Chattah hung up on a Nevada Independent reporter.

Chattah, a longtime Trump supporter who lost a bid for attorney general in 2022, has also served as the state’s Republican national committeewoman, a position she initially remained in despite her appointment as interim U.S. attorney.

The challenges are likely to continue scrutiny of the Trump administration’s efforts to unilaterally name its top federal prosecutors without receiving approval from the U.S. Senate. Permanent appointments to the federal judiciary require Senate approval, but that process can be bypassed via non-permanent appointments.

In the lawsuits, the federal public defender’s office argued that Chattah does not meet the criteria for acting officers outlined in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and that she could not keep serving as U.S. attorney on an interim basis after her initial 120-day stint ended.

It also argues that, even if the court maintains that the acting appointment was legal, the position still requires approval from the U.S. Senate given Chattah’s lengthy stay in the office.

“(T)he administration may view Ms. Chattah’s service as temporary in name only — so her service therefore requires Senate confirmation,” the lawsuits say.

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This story was originally published in The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.