Under the Constitution and U.S. law, the top federal law enforcement official in each of the country’s 94 judicial districts — of which New York has four — the United States attorney, is to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, or in some instances, approved by the district’s judges. Yet Donald Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, are bypassing both methods to install and keep a clearly unfit character as the U.S. attorney for the upstate Northern District of New York.
Something like a federal prosecutor’s office is this sort of place that benefits from some stability and a clear sense of leadership and direction, which is why the situation that has played out in recent days at the office of the NDNY U.S. attorney is particularly bizarre.
There, Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney John Sarcone seemed to be out of his job after a panel of federal district judges declined to permanently appoint him, using a little-known power for U.S. attorney posts. In short order, however, Bondi’s DOJ appointed him first assistant U.S. attorney for the same district, effectively keeping him at the head of the office for some time longer, even though he has still not been formally nominated to the position. Despite that, he told a reporter for Syracuse.com that he expects to be in the post “indefinitely.”
You almost have to give Trump and his MAGA followers credit for finding yet another way to disrespect and disobey the federal courts after they’d already stacked the judiciary with appointments of unqualified sycophants and openly disregard judicial orders, among other things. Now, they’re overriding the decision of a judicial panel on a very sensitive post.
We don’t know exactly why the judges declined to extend Sarcone’s employment, as they did not provide any explanation, though for federal judges to choose to shift the status quo in a federal prosecutor’s office, we imagine they had some good reasons. And that’s good enough for us.
In the first Trump term, federal judges approved Trump’s picks for both the Manhattan and Brooklyn U.S. attorneys. Their saying no to Sarcone upstate must be respected.
Similarly, we can’t say for certain why exactly the administration is so gung-ho about keeping Sarcone there, especially given his relative lack of experience, though we know from all past behavior and public announcements that Trump fully believes U.S. attorneys to be effectively working directly for him as opposed to working on behalf of the public.
Sarcone himself was candid with a reporter that he sees this prosecution job as temporary until he receives an apparently promised judicial nomination become a federal judge in New York.
The administration has not even tried to get him confirmed by the Senate, though it’s unclear if this is because it doesn’t believe he would prevail, or Trump simply doesn’t care about the Senate’s advice and consent functions. During his first term, he was happy to have all manner of high-level federal officials indefinitely on an acting basis, though this time around he’s had far better luck sailing nominees through a subservient Senate, which has given the thumbs up to people as awful as vaccine denier Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the nation’s top public health official and noted puppy killer Kristi Noem to run Homeland Security.
Whatever the reasoning, this isn’t how things are supposed to work. If Trump really wants Sarcone to be permanently in the position — or at least until he can reward him with a judgeship — then he should go to the Senate and ask them to confirm the prosecutor after senators have had their chance to question him under oath. If he’s a good candidate (or, if recent history is an indication, even if he’s a bad one) he’ll be confirmed according to the Constitution.
U.S. attorneys might be part of the executive branch, but they’re not supposed to be political players.
