洛杉矶 —— 一名联邦法官周二裁定，共和党人比尔·埃萨伊利并非合法担任洛杉矶地区的最高联邦检察官。
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally serving as the top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles.
这一裁决是特朗普政府试图让其精心挑选的代理联邦检察官突破联邦法律规定的120天任期限制的最新障碍。该策略旨在绕过美国参议院的确认程序 —— 这通常需要一定程度的两党支持。
The ruling is the latest roadblock to the Trump administration’s effort to extend handpicked acting U.S. attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to bypass confirmation by the U.S. Senate — something that generally requires a degree of bipartisan support.
美国地区法官J·迈克尔·西布赖特在命令中写道，埃萨伊利“正非法担任‘事实上的’美国联邦检察官”。
Essayli “is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote.
该命令要等到法院就政府提出的上诉期间暂缓执行动议作出裁决后才会生效。埃萨伊利表示不同意法院的命令。他在一份声明中说，总统和司法部长“有权选择司法部内部的主管人选”。“最终，这一问题将由最高法院裁决，我期待在在此之前继续履行我的现任职务。”
The order won’t take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal. Essayli said he doesn’t agree with the court’s order. He said the president and Attorney General “have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department.”“Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current role until then,” he said in a statement.
这位前州议员去年被特朗普政府任命为加利福尼亚中区（包括洛杉矶）代理联邦检察官。就在120天期限届满前，时任美国司法部长帕姆·邦迪任命他为第一助理联邦检察官。
The former state lawmaker was appointed by the Trump administration last year to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles. Just before the 120-day mark, then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him as First Assistant U.S. Attorney.
但在2025年10月，西布赖特取消了埃萨伊利监督几起刑事案件的资格，认定他在临时职位上任职时间超过了法律允许的期限。他获准继续担任第一助理联邦检察官。
But in October 2025, Seabright disqualified Essayli from overseeing several criminal cases, concluding he had stayed in the temporary job longer than allowed by law. He was allowed to continue to serve as a First Assistant U.S. attorney.
政府从未任命另一位代理联邦检察官，实际上使埃萨伊利成为最高检察官。他在从涉嫌医疗保健欺诈到近期指控大规模非公民投票等一切问题上，一直是政府与加利福尼亚州交锋的代表人物。加利福尼亚州已对联邦政府试图阻止选举官员统计特朗普政府怀疑非美国公民的多达20,000人的选票的做法进行了反击。
The administration never appointed another acting U.S. attorney, effectively making Essayli the top prosecutor. He’s been a face of the administration’s sparring with California on everything from alleged health care fraud to recent claims of widespread noncitizen voting. California has pushed back on federal efforts to prevent election officials from counting ballots of up to 20,000 people the Trump administration suspects are not U.S. citizens.
周二，西布赖特写道，在联邦第九巡回上诉法院八月就一起类似案件作出裁决后，埃萨伊利的身份面临新的质疑。第九巡回上诉法院认定，特朗普政府最初提名的内华达州联邦检察官西格尔·查塔，其被任命为领导该州联邦起诉工作的过程是非法的。
On Tuesday, Seabright wrote that Essayli’s status faced new questions following an August appeals court ruling in a similar case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Sigal Chattah, the Trump administration’s initial pick for U.S. attorney in Nevada, was unlawfully appointed to lead federal prosecutions in the state.
西布赖特写道，邦迪任命埃萨伊利为特别检察官并指定他为代理联邦检察官（FAUSA），这“完全相同”于她以相同身份任命查塔。
Seabright wrote that Bondi’s appointment of Essayli as a special attorney and designation of him as the FAUSA “is identical” to her appointment of Chattah in the same roles.
尽管美国司法部长托德·布兰奇的新指定令削减了埃萨伊利的部分职责，但法官表示，“修订后的指定令没有任何实质性内容将其与上诉法院裁决中认定为不当的查塔指定令区分开来”。法官们已认定，政府安插的多名临时联邦检察官均非法任职。
Despite a new designation by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche that cut a few of Essayli’s duties, the judge said that “nothing in the revised designation order materially distinguishes it from the Chattah designation order deemed improper in” the appeals court ruling. Judges have found a number of interim U.S. attorneys installed by the administration are unlawfully serving in their positions.
去年，新泽西州一名法官取消了代理联邦检察官阿丽娜·哈巴的资格；今年一月，一名法官裁定约翰·萨科内并非合法担任纽约北区代理联邦检察官。
A judge in New Jersey last year disqualified acting U.S. attorney Alina Habba and in January a judge ruled that John Sarcone was not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.
埃萨伊利曾任联邦检察官和共和党州议员。在议会任职期间，他推动保守派议题并批评该州的新冠疫情限制措施。他公开反对加州保护非法居留移民的政策，并积极起诉在南加州抗议特朗普加强移民执法行动的人员。
Essayli is a former federal prosecutor and Republican state lawmaker. In the Legislature, he took up conservative causes and criticized the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. He has been outspoken against California policies to protect immigrants living in the country illegally, and he has aggressively prosecuted people who protest Trump’s ramped up immigration enforcement across Southern California.