LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge disqualified Nevada, who plays US lawyer Cigal Chatta from several cases after he concluded Tuesday that Trump’s appointees stayed longer than allowed by law.
US District Judge David G. Campbell sided with a defense attorney who claimed that Chatta had been disqualified from overseeing criminal prosecutions in July.
Campbell ordered the government attorneys on the case to inform the court within seven days that Chatta was not leading their work. However, he did not dismiss the charges.
Calls from Chatta’s office for comment on Tuesday night were not answered, and the Department of Justice did not respond immediately to email requests.
The Trump administration’s efforts to extend its administration have been the second setback in recent weeks. Carefully selected to play our lawyer Beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. judge I have come to the same conclusion In August, the lawyers for New Jersey’s U.S. lawyer Alina Haba was working illegally as Campbell.
Under federal law, if a permanent US lawyer is appointed president and confirmed by the Senate within 120 days, a U.S. District Court judge can appoint a provisional until the vacancy is filled, Campbell wrote in his ruling.
Campbell aimed at the Trump administration’s strategy of using temporary temporary appointments to allow Trump’s candidates to bypass the usual requirement that US lawyers be confirmed by the Senate.
He pointed to the Federal Vacancy Reform Act of 1998, and Congress specifically passed the lawmakers to regulate temporary filling of vacant seats in administrative departments that require presidential appointments and confirmation of the Senate.
“The procedures the government used to appoint Chatta was never intended by Congress,” Campbell wrote.
Chatta, a conservative lawyer, attracted opposition from Nevada’s democratic Sens. Katherine Cortez Masto and Jackie Rosen. If the administration tried to make her appointment permanent, both vowed to block her, calling her an election denying who defended political violence and supported Trump’s illegal activities.
Chatta previously represents Nevada Church, which challenged the state’s Covid-19 restrictions, claiming that it violated First Amendment rights by treating the church in a way that is different from casinos and other secular businesses. She ran For the state attorney general In 2022, he lost to Democrat Aaron Ford.
Chatta represented one of them. Six members of the Nevada Republican Party He was accused of submitting the certificate to Congress. Donald Trump falsely declared himself the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election.
The appointment of Trump’s loyalty to the Justice Department also sparked concerns that there is an agency under Attorney General Pam Bondy. It has been weaponized in the pursuit of investigation And now we see the prosecution of the president’s people as a political enemy.
Last Thursday, former FBI director James Comey He was accused of lying to Congress in a criminal case filed days after Trump appeared to have begun urging Bondi to prosecute him.
Trump also urged the department to indict New York State Attorney General Leticia James. Pressure from the White House has also led to the resignation of Virginia’s finest federal prosecutor.
