A federal judge disqualified a Trump administration federal prosecutor from overseeing investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the prosecutor was not lawfully serving as an acting U.S. attorney.
U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield blocked subpoenas requested by John Sarcone, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, saying the Department of Justice did not follow statutory procedure after judges declined to extend Sarcone’s tenure. Schofield said the Executive branch action that followed “skirt[ed] restraints put in place by Congress” and used that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, adding that subpoenas issued under that authority were invalid.
In her decision, Schofield wrote that the subpoenas are “quashed” and that Sarcone is “disqualified from further participation in the underlying investigations.” The judge also said Sarcone is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney and that any “of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have.”
James, a Democrat, challenged Sarcone’s authority after he issued subpoenas seeking information about lawsuits she filed against President Donald Trump, alleging fraud in business dealings. James also challenged subpoenas connected to her efforts involving the National Rifle Association and some of its former leaders, and she said the investigation into her lawsuits is part of a campaign of baseless investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.
Justice Department lawyers argued that Sarcone was appointed properly and that the subpoenas were valid. The department said in an email Thursday that it “will continue to fight and defend the President and the Attorney General’s authority to appoint their U.S. Attorneys.”
James’ office called the ruling “an important win for the rule of law” and said it would continue to defend the office’s litigation from what it described as this administration’s political attacks.
Schofield said the federal government could reissue the subpoenas at the direction of a lawfully authorized attorney. Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said it is “always a big deal when judges say that the U.S. attorney doesn’t have the authority,” but he added that subpoenas typically are not issued by a single prosecutor, so the ruling might not directly affect other investigations brought through the prosecutor’s office.
The case is part of a broader sequence of federal rulings that have limited the ability of Trump administration officials to keep senior prosecutors serving in top roles while bypassing the usual process for confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The decision cited similar dynamics in other places, including a case involving Alina Habba and earlier federal cases involving a prosecutor named Lindsey Halligan, along with disqualifications of acting U.S. attorneys in Nevada and Southern California.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone as the interim U.S. attorney for the district in March. When Sarcone’s 120-day term elapsed, judges in the district declined to keep him in the post, and Bondi then appointed Sarcone as a special attorney and designated him first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, moves that federal officials said would allow him to serve as an acting U.S. attorney.
Schofield said that on the same day judges declined to extend Sarcone’s appointment, the Department took coordinated steps through personnel moves and shifting titles to install him as Acting U.S. Attorney, and she said federal law does not permit such a workaround. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said the Northern District of New York deserves “a qualified, independent prosecutor, not a political loyalist.”
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