Ruling expected soon in cases challenging Nevada U.S. attorney’s appointment
A judge overseeing cases challenging Nevada acting U.S. attorney Sigal Chattah’s appointment expects to issue a decision by the end of the month.
Arizona-based Senior U.S. District Judge David Campbell conducted a Wednesday hearing where a federal prosecutor and federal public defenders argued after the federal public defender’s office filed requests to disqualify Chattahor dismiss indictments its clients face.
“This is somewhat of a unique situation that we’re dealing with here,” said federal public defender Jeremy Baron.
Baron said the indictments at issue were not properly filed and that the same logic could be applied to other prosecutions after July 29, when Chattah has said she was made acting U.S. attorney after she served as interim U.S. attorney.
He argued for dismissal with prejudice, which prevents a case from being brought again, saying there needed to be a strong corrective sanction.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Schiess argued against dismissing the indictments.
“The defendants have suffered no harm whatsoever,” he said, adding that there was no basis to conclude the grand jury process was defective or the indictments were deficient.
The federal public defender’s office has argued that Chattah’s term expired in July and that she has been doing her job since then without “force or effect.” They have said they want federal judges to “exercise their authority to appoint a proper interim U.S. attorney.”
Federal prosecutors have said Chattah “is validly serving.”
Chattah has been in office since April, first serving as interim U.S. attorney. The day before that appointment was set to expire, President Donald Trump appointed Chattah as acting U.S. attorney, Chattah said, the Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported.
Nevada Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto oppose Chattah, who has said she was made acting U.S. attorney because the senators would not approve her nomination.
The debate over Chattah comes after a ruling that Alina Habba, her counterpart in New Jersey, was serving unlawfully and had not been properly appointed.
Federal public defenders repeatedly referred to that decision during the Wednesday hearing.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.