Case Explained: USA V. SALAZAR DEL REAL

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 after the vacancy has already occurred. The court ruled that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA), specifically 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(1), the automatic succession of a first assistant applies only to the individual holding that position at the precise moment the vacancy arises, not to someone appointed as first assistant after the office becomes vacant. Furthermore, the court held that the Attorney General cannot create a de facto Acting U.S. Attorney by delegating all functions and duties of the office to a single person, as the FVRA serves as the exclusive means for temporarily authorizing an acting official under 5 U.S.C. § 3347(a), prohibiting general delegation statutes from being used to circumvent these statutory limits. The court dismissed the defendants’ cross-appeals challenging the denial of their motions to dismiss the indictments, concluding that it lacks appellate jurisdiction because the question of whether Chattah was lawfully appointed does not dictate the remedy for an unlawful appointment, meaning the issues are not inextricably intertwined and review of one order does not require review of the other. Consequently, the disqualification order stands, but the indictments remain valid as the district court correctly determined that Assistant U.S. Attorneys derived their authority from the Attorney General rather than the Acting U.S. Attorney. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.