A group of federal judges in Seattle are going on offense against President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice's efforts to circumvent the Senate, according to a new report.
The judges have orchestrated a legal confrontation designed to test the limits of Trump's power over federal law enforcement, and they appear to have deliberately selected a candidate willing to fight, Talking Points Memo analyst David Kurtz wrote Wednesday.
"The federal judges in Seattle appear to have decided this is a fight they wanted to fight," he wrote.
The plan centers on Trump's strategy for circumventing Senate oversight has been brazen by deploying various "workarounds" to install loyalists in key positions, Kurtz argued. Some of these maneuvers violate federal law governing interim appointments. Others sidestep constitutional requirements for Senate confirmation.
When district judges appoint interim U.S. attorneys, Trump simply fires them. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has made clear: future judge-appointed U.S. attorneys will be terminated unless the administration approves them first.
Now the Seattle judges are forcing a confrontation they appear to relish.
They appointed attorney Roger Rogoff as interim U.S. attorney, and Trump fired him within an hour. But Rogoff, forewarned and willing, immediately filed suit challenging the termination.
"They asked applicants for the interim position whether they would contest their anticipated firing by the president," Kurtz wrote. "Rogoff indicated he would, and they named him to the position."
According to the report, Rogoff's complaint points to three other jurisdictions—California's Central District, New Mexico, and Nevada—where Trump's workarounds violated law but judges haven't yet intervened.
The implication is clear, Kurtz argued: this case will determine whether judges nationwide can check presidential overreach.
Kurtz observed, "The speed with which Rogoff filed his lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction, the quality of the complaint, and the caliber of the lawyers representing him all suggests this is going to be a hard fought, fully engaged case that ends up before the 9th Circuit and perhaps the Supreme Court."