Federal Appeals Court Upholds Disqualification of Sigal Chata

On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld a decision that disqualified Sigal Chata from her role as Nevada’s chief federal prosecutor. The court determined that she couldn’t continue her duties under the Justice Department’s appointment structure after her interim term expires.

A three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that Chata lacked proper supervision over the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.

This ruling prevents Chata from directing prosecutors in three different criminal cases.

Before her role in the Justice Department, Chata was active in the Republican National Committee in Nevada. She began her interim appointment as U.S. attorney for a maximum of 120 days on April 1, 2025.

As her term was nearing its end in July of that year, she was appointed by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi as an assistant U.S. attorney after resigning from her interim role, just before the conclusion of her temporary duties. The Justice Department argued this allowed her to act as the U.S. attorney while awaiting the confirmation of a permanent replacement.

On a similar note, Bondi also appointed Chata as special counsel. However, the Justice Department claimed that her position as first assistant, which is second-in-command, qualified her to serve as acting U.S. attorney per the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Nonetheless, Nevada’s federal public defenders contested Chata’s authority in various unrelated criminal cases, asking for dismissals on the grounds that her appointment was illegal and that she should face disbarment.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell agreed with the public defenders’ argument in September, which led to an appeal from the Trump administration.

The appeals court determined that, according to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a first assistant can only automatically step into the acting U.S. attorney role if they were in that position at the time of a vacancy.

“The attorney general cannot delegate all of the duties of a U.S. attorney to another, creating a de facto acting U.S. attorney,” stated U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Miller, who was appointed by President Trump.

The panel, which reached a unanimous decision, also included Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., another Trump appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas.

The Justice Department’s contention that Chata’s appointment as first assistant allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney was dismissed by the panel, as was the argument that the attorney general had the authority to delegate her U.S. attorney duties.

This ruling represents another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to place allies in top prosecutor roles without the standard Senate confirmation process. It’s part of a broader controversy surrounding the Senate Judiciary Committee’s “blue slip” tradition that can enable local senators to block nominees if their concerns are honored by the committee chair.

Notably, President Trump did not nominate Chata for the permanent U.S. Attorney position for the District of Nevada, instead choosing George Kelesis in February 2026.

In another case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit previously found that Alina Haba, a former personal attorney for Trump, was not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey and disqualified her from overseeing legal matters.