A federal judge on Oct. 27 ordered first assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli barred from two Central District of California prosecutions after finding his service as the district’s “de facto” U.S. attorney unlawful.
The two affected prosecutions involve Jaime Hector Ramirez and Tu Anh Tran. It bars Essayli from participating in those prosecutions or supervising the attorneys handling them. Seabright denied requests to dismiss the indictments, leaving both cases in place.
Seabright delayed the disqualification and allowed the government five business days to request a stay; the docket lists a stay motion as anticipated.
At an Oct. 13 hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins told Seabright that the government would appeal any disqualification, the Los Angeles Times reported. Essayli said, “We respectfully disagree with the court’s order,” The Guardian reported.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi appointed Essayli interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, and he was sworn in April 2, 2025. Federal law limits an interim appointee’s service to 120 days unless a presidentially appointed U.S. attorney qualifies first. After that term reached its limit, Essayli held the titles of special attorney and first assistant. Those later titles form part of the dispute over his authority.
The same succession question arose in Nevada in August. On Aug. 17, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an appointment to the first-assistant job after a vacancy arose, or a transfer of all the office’s duties, could not make that person an acting U.S. attorney. The panel also affirmed the disqualification of Nevada prosecutor Sigal Chattah.
The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to review the Nevada ruling. The docket lists Nov. 5 as the response deadline; it gives no date for arguments or a decision.
