Case Explained: USA V. ENRIQUEZ

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-17 Docket: 2:25-cr-00240- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order disqualifying Sigal Chattah from supervising the prosecutions of three defendants in the District of Nevada, holding that the Attorney General cannot bypass Senate confirmation requirements by designating an individual as the first assistant to a vacant U.S. Attorney office solely to trigger automatic succession under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA). The court ruled that 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(1) applies only to a first assistant who held that position at the exact moment the vacancy arose, not to someone appointed after the vacancy occurred. Furthermore, the court held that the FVRA serves as the exclusive means for temporarily authorizing an acting official under 5 U.S.C. § 3347(a), prohibiting the Attorney General from delegating all functions and duties of a vacant U.S. Attorney office to a single person via general delegation statutes like 28 U.S.C. § 515 to create a de facto Acting U.S. Attorney. The court dismissed the defendants’ cross-appeals challenging the denial of their motions to dismiss the indictments for lack of appellate jurisdiction, concluding that the validity of Chattah’s appointment does not dictate the appropriate remedy and that the issues are not inextricably intertwined. As a practical consequence, the disqualification order stands, barring Chattah from supervising these cases, while the defendants’ indictments remain valid and the criminal proceedings continue without dismissal. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.