Court-Appointed Interim Official Removed After 120-Day Term; Administration Cites Presidential Removal Power

Roger Rogoff filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Seattle against President Donald Trump, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit challenges his removal from the post of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and seeks a declaration that the firing is invalid.

Rogoff was sworn in July 15 after federal judges unanimously appointed him to fill a vacancy. He received notice of his termination via email in the lobby of the U.S. District Courthouse in Seattle 54 minutes later. The complaint states that Rogoff remains the validly appointed U.S. attorney until a successor is installed through presidential nomination and Senate confirmation.

"The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States," Rogoff said in a statement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on social media that Western District judges abandoned the consultation process with the administration and that Rogoff had been fired by the President.

Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo wrote in a general order that the President has not yet nominated a permanent United States Attorney for the district. Rogoff replaced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd, whose interim appointment by Trump in October 2025 expired February 3 under the 120-day statutory limit.

Rogoff previously served as a King County Superior Court judge, King County prosecutor, federal prosecutor and the state’s first director of the Office of Independent Investigations.