SEATTLE—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Sunday, October 4, granted the DOJ an administrative stay, pausing a district court order that had blocked President Donald J Trump’s firing of Roger Rogoff and restored him as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.
The order, issued by Clerk of Court Molly C. Dwyer, states that the court received the government’s emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and that “the request for an administrative stay is GRANTED.” It adds that the stay “is only intended to preserve the status quo until the substantive motion for a stay pending appeal can be considered on the merits, and does not constitute in any way a decision as to the merits” of the appeal. It was not an en banc ruling and was not signed by a panel of judges.
The stay means Rogoff remains out of the office for now and not a decision on whether President Trump had the power to remove a court-appointed interim U.S. attorney. The Ninth Circuit will next consider the DOJ’s full request for a stay pending appeal; the underlying appeal remains active.
Sunday’s stay follows an October 1 ruling by U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian, a Barack Obama appointee and chief judge of the Eastern District of Washington. Speaking from the bench, Bastian granted Rogoff a preliminary injunction, refused to pause it himself, and said Rogoff “is the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington and has been the rightful holder of that office since July 15, 2026,” the day he took the oath.
The judges of the Western District appointed Rogoff unanimously after the post sat without a Senate-confirmed leader. Federal law lets the attorney general name an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days; once that window closes, the district court may fill the vacancy until the Senate confirms a nominee. Rogoff, a former federal prosecutor and King County Superior Court judge, was sworn in at the Seattle courthouse on the morning of July 15. Trump fired him by email less than an hour later.
The Trump administration had left the office in the hands of Charles Neil Floyd, who had served as interim U.S. attorney and then as first assistant after his statutory term expired. Trump later nominated Pete Serrano, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Eastern Washington and a former Pasco mayor, for the Western District post. Serrano has yet to be confirm and Bastian said neither Floyd nor Serrano held the office under his injunction.
Rogoff sued in July, arguing the firing sidestepped the Senate’s confirmation role. Bastian on Oct. 1 agreed, stating Congress did not give the power to fill the office to the president alone and that allowing the removal “would upend the framework created by the Constitution and the statutes.”
Bastian’s district court order—which is now stayed after Sunday’s decision—had barred the Trump administration from carrying out the firing, treating Rogoff as removed, or blocking his access to the office, staff and pay, and had entitled him to back pay.
Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh, interviewed by the Lynnwood Times Sunday evening after the stay, described Bastian’s ruling as “patently illegal” and said the Ninth Circuit’s weekend stay correctly held that a president can fire a U.S. attorney. He called the Senate blue-slip practice that Sen Patty Murray has used against Serrano an “arcane U.S. Senate policy, not law.” He said it is a courtesy that lets home-state senators “blackball” a nominee.
After Sens. Murray and Senator Cantwell blocked Serrano’s earlier path to confirmation as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District—it was mostly Murray—the DOJ found a workaround by naming Serrano first assistant and a special adviser to the U.S. attorney general effectively managing the Spokane AG’s Office without the formal title. Asked why Sen. Murray continues to hold up Serrano’s appointment,
Walsh alleged fraud investigations are “what Senator Murray’s worried about” and that she “may be implicated” indirectly because she has supported programs now subject to fraud allegations. Walsh clarified that he is not claiming Sen. Murray was “caught red-handed, fraudulently stuffing $100 bills into her freezer,” but that she is attached by backing those programs.
The example he shared with the Lynnwood Times was Apple Health Medicaid benefits for illegal aliens: he said Washington may offer state benefits, but federal money cannot be used, and that there are “rumors and allegations” that the state’s Health Care Authority has commingled federal funds in a way that would violate federal law. Walsh added that these matters are under investigation.
Walsh said he does not expect the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court but suspects the Ninth Circuit will reject the district court’s opinion and that the Supreme Court will decline review.
He shared that he talks with Serrano often but had not spoken with him about Sunday’s Ninth Circuit stay.
Serrano, Walsh said, “has nothing to do with” Rogoff’s firing by President Trump nor is he directly involved in the process.
Author: Mario Lotmore
