Obama judge halts Trump firing bid as decades-old legal authority tees up possible major reversal

A federal judge in Washington state has stopped the Trump administration from removing Roger Rogoff, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, who was installed by the district's judges rather than by the president. Judge Stanley Bastian, an Obama appointee confirmed after a 2013 nomination, issued a preliminary injunction directing the Justice Department to treat Rogoff as the lawful officeholder and let him resume his duties, according to Fox News.

The decision opens a fight over whether a president may dismiss a U.S. attorney chosen by the courts. Both a 1979 Justice Department opinion and a 2000 federal appeals court decision found that he may, so the outcome could upend long-standing authority.

The department said through its Rapid Response account that it plans to ask for an immediate stay and to appeal. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called the ruling the work of an activist judge and said U.S. attorneys serve at the president's pleasure. Conservative lawyers also criticized the order online. Mike Davis, president and founder of Article III, argued that it violates the separation of powers, and he pointed out that the order misspelled the judge's first name.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →