Roger Rogoff, a U.S. attorney in Washington State, has sued the Trump administration over his firing, in what appears to be the first challenge of its kind. Federal law allows district court judges to appoint a U.S. attorney when the post sits vacant without a Senate-confirmed nominee, and judges in Washington did exactly that after months without one. Rogoff was dismissed less than an hour later. His suit argues that the president cannot remove a judicially appointed U.S. attorney until the Senate confirms a replacement — a reading that would make the appointment a check on the White House’s ability to bypass the confirmation process altogether.

The case faces steep odds. Presidents generally hold broad authority to remove executive branch subordinates, and the Supreme Court recently strengthened that power in a ruling on regulators at nominally independent agencies. A University of Washington law professor quoted in the piece said there are serious arguments on Rogoff’s side but that the current Court’s deference to executive power makes them a hard sell. The Justice Department maintains the firing was within the president’s authority and faults the judges for not consulting the department first — consistent with its stated position that judicial appointments will only stand with departmental sign-off. Similar dismissals have occurred in New Jersey, the Northern District of New York, and the Eastern District of Virginia, though in one New Jersey case the department accepted a judicial pick after direct negotiation.

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