The Trump administration moved Tuesday to keep Bill Essayli in charge of the Central District of California, extending the tenure of Los Angeles’s top federal prosecutor past his expired interim status by naming him acting United States attorney.
Essayli, a former Republican state legislator and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was initially appointed to the post in April by Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, his 120-day interim term was expected to end Wednesday without a formal nomination being sent to the Senate. He is expected to immediately assume the acting role at 5:01 p.m., granting him up to 210 additional days to serve without Senate confirmation, two Justice Department officials told the Washington Examiner.
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The maneuver mirrors recent moves by the Trump administration in New Jersey, New York, Nevada, and Washington, D.C., where court-appointed successors were bypassed or removed to keep White House-preferred prosecutors in power, often amid bitter partisan confirmation disputes.
The Trump administration’s decision is just the latest in a string of similar efforts to preserve key legal leadership amid mounting Senate gridlock.
The battle over U.S. attorney leadership has become a broader flashpoint in New Jersey after the interim term of Trump’s nominee, Alina Habba, expired; a federal judicial panel selected her deputy, career prosecutor Desiree Grace, to replace her. But Bondi rejected the judges’ choice, removed Grace from the department entirely, and reappointed Habba in an acting capacity.
That move triggered immediate legal challenges from criminal defense attorneys in the Garden State, who say Habba lacks the authority to prosecute cases. At least two criminal cases in New Jersey have been delayed after defense lawyers questioned her authority to lead the office. The Justice Department pushed back Tuesday, saying in a court filing that Trump followed the law and that “Ms. Habba is validly serving as the acting United States Attorney.”
U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel in New Jersey called the issue a “non-frivolous argument” and warned that additional criminal proceedings would likely be delayed across the district. An appellate judge has since transferred one such case to Pennsylvania to allow the matter to play out without disruption.
Allies of the president argue that Trump’s handling of U.S. attorney appointments is a response to a dysfunctional Senate, where delays have become the norm, especially in Justice Department roles.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has blamed the breakdown on partisan tit-for-tat. In a May hearing, Durbin called on the Trump White House to “honor the blue slip rule” for U.S. attorneys, which means working with U.S. senators from those states to come to an agreement on an appointee.
Legal experts say the White House is taking advantage of a gray area in federal law that allows for acting appointments once interim terms expire and judicial panels fail to act.
“The effect of what he’s done is avoiding advice and consent [in the Senate] by using actings and interims,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor. “He’s got 90+ of them and none of them have been confirmed.”
While federal judges serve for life, U.S. attorneys are four-year appointees. The Senate confirmation process for judges broke down after former Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, broke the tradition to speedily pass former President Barack Obama’s appointees.
“There’s a lot more at stake, giving nominees like judges life tenure, versus what is typically a four-year term for a U.S. attorney,” Tobias said. “But see, if you have a regularly functioning way, the Democrats helped Trump confirm 85% of his nominees in his first term, you don’t run into these problems. You don’t create these problems.”
ALINA HABBA BECOMES ACTING US ATTORNEY IN NEW JERSEY
In Los Angeles, Essayli’s leadership has not been without controversy. He often trades barbs with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), echoing Trump’s complaints about the governor’s failures to mitigate the state’s annual wildfire disasters. A recent investigative report from the Los Angeles Times found he was struggling to prove underlying allegations in several cases brought against anti-immigration enforcement rioters during the multi-day protests last month.
However, Essayli has maintained that an aggressive posture is needed to address the needs of law enforcement in Los Angeles, telling a local Fox News affiliate last month that federal law enforcement intervention was needed to help local sheriffs during the chaotic unrest in the city.