By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – The top federal prosecutor in Seattle who was fired by President Donald Trump last week sued the administration on Tuesday, in a case testing the president’s authority to remove U.S. attorneys appointed by judges to fill vacancies.
Roger Rogoff’s lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Seattle, said Trump unlawfully removed him as the court-appointed U.S. attorney in the Western District of Washington immediately after he took office on July 15.
The lawsuit contends that federal law allows a court-appointed U.S. attorney to serve until the position is filled by a presidential nominee confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Rogoff asked the court to declare his firing invalid and rule that he remains the U.S. attorney for the district until a Senate-confirmed successor takes office.
Trump last week removed Rogoff, a former federal prosecutor and state court judge, one hour after the chief judge in the Western District of Washington swore him in as the district’s new U.S. attorney.
“The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States,” Rogoff said in a statement. “His removal of me, like his removal of other court-appointed U.S. Attorneys across the country, is illegal and cannot stand.”
The Justice Department in a statement said the district court “did not coordinate with DOJ on this selection. Consistent with other firings of this type, this is wholly within the President’s authority.”
A lawyer for Rogoff, Donald Verrilli Jr. of the law firm Munger Tolles, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rogoff was appointed after the U.S. attorney’s office’s top post had remained vacant without a Senate-confirmed nominee. Rogoff is an attorney at the law firm Osborn Machler & Neff.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post last week that Trump had fired Rogoff. “District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” Blanche said.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Aurora Ellis)
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