As First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli left the courtroom Tuesday afternoon at the conclusion of an almost three-hour long emergency hearing related to how to handle mail ballots returned by 20,000 "likely noncitizens" on California's voter rolls, he was approached by Los Angeles Times reporter Brittny Mejia, whose question had nothing to do with the case at hand.
She wrote on social media that she "informed @USAttyEssayli that a federal judge ruled this afternoon that he is unlawfully serving as a 'de facto' United States Attorney," and that disqualifications in two criminal cases "delayed for now." He told her "the case 'will be decided by the Supreme Court.'"
After ballot hearing today, I informed @USAttyEssayli that a federal judge ruled this afternoon that he is unlawfully serving as a “de facto” United States Attorney. Disqualifications in two cases delayed for now. Essayli told me the case “will be decided by the Supreme Court” https://t.co/CjDMzzPjJW
— Brittny Mejia (@brittny_mejia) October 28, 2026
Considering that this order was expected by all parties involved since a similar case, United States v. Jackson, was decided by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on August 17, that presiding judge ordered Essayli's disqualification stayed pending appeal, and that the Department of Justice has already filed a Writ of Certiorari at the United States Supreme Court in Jackson, it seems that Mejia is being a bit dramatic.
What's happening here has nothing to do with Essayli's qualifications as a U.S. Attorney and everything to do with politics. Before being appointed as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in April 2025, Essayli was a member of the California Assembly for four years and was well known as a huge thorn in the side of the Democrat supermajority cabal in Sacramento — and for being equally antagonistic to wimpy Republicans in the capital. Essayli also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District from October 2014 through February 2018 and was part of the prosecution team that responded to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino in December 2015. So, he's clearly qualified for the position.
Knowing that the U.S. Senators from California (Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla) would never sign off on Essayli's nomination, Trump instead had Bondi appoint Essayli to the U.S. Attorney position that had been vacated by Biden's appointee, Miguel Estrada. He could only serve in there for a limited time so he resigned from that position before that time period expired and Bondi designated him as First Assistant and appointed him Special Attorney upon his resignation. Since that time, Essayli has been supervising prosecutions and appearing on behalf of the United States in cases in his position as First Assistant U.S. Attorney (FAUSA) and as Special Attorney. (There are a few other procedural nuances in there, but they don't matter overall and we're trying to get to the point.)
Nevada's Sigal Chattah was appointed at the same time as Essayli, and her arc in that state has generally followed his.
After seeing favorable rulings in other jurisdictions, criminal defendants in the 9th Circuit started filing motions to disqualify Essayli and Chattah, in hopes of having their indictments dismissed, or at least miring the government in lawfare. A few of those cases made their way up to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled on one, United States v. Jackson. While Jackson pertained to Chattah, it supplied the precedent for two defendants in the Central District of California.
In Jackson, the 9th Circuit ruled:
These cases present the question whether the Attorney General can make someone an Acting United States Attorney—bypassing the usual requirement that a U.S. Attorney be confirmed by the Senate—by designating that person as the first assistant to an already-vacant office of U.S. Attorney. We hold that the Attorney General cannot do so. Although the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA) provides that a first assistant automatically succeeds to a vacant office, that rule of automatic succession applies only to a first assistant who held that position at the time the vacancy arose; it does not apply to a first assistant who never served under a validly appointed official. 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(1). Nor can the Attorney General create a de facto Acting U.S. Attorney by delegating all of the functions and duties of the U.S. Attorney to someone else.
The FVRA is “the exclusive means for temporarily authorizing an acting official to perform the functions and duties of any office,” so it prohibits a complete delegation of all of the U.S. Attorney’s powers to a single person. Id. § 3347. Applying those principles, we affirm the district court’s order disqualifying Sigal Chattah, the putative Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada, from supervising the prosecutions of the defendants in these cases.
Relying on Jackson, defendant Tu Anh Tran, whose motion to dismiss his case and to disqualify Essayli from his prosecution had previously been granted in part and denied in part, filed a motion to reconsider. That motion was heard on October 13, and District Judge J. Michael Seabright issued his order on October 27, with very interesting timing.
When Fox News' Matt Finn caught up with Essayli after the hearing in USA vs. State of California and asked him for comment, Essayli said:
"We respectfully disagree with the court’s order. The President and the Attorney General have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department. Importantly, today’s order is automatically stayed so the government can seek a full stay and maintain the status quo pending our appeal. Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current role until then.”
As far as the case regarding the 20,000 likely noncitizens on California's voter rolls and whether or not their mail-in ballots will be segregated, Judge David Carter appointed a Special Master on Tuesday afternoon, and despite the fact that Essayli's office had multiple witnesses on hand ready to testify under oath about how they created this list, Carter instead listened to nearly three hours of lawyers talking before stating that he would issue an order on Wednesday. I'll have a lot more to say about that on Wednesday, but wanted to bring you the news about Essayli.
Editor's Note: Unelected federal judges are obstructing President Trump's agenda and ignoring the will of the people.
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