DOJ Stands by Disqualified Prosecutor Probing James in Appeal

The Justice Department told a federal appeals court Monday that it properly installed its federal prosecutor pick in Albany before he obtained subpoenas based on investigations of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

John Sarcone, who a federal judge ruled in January was unlawfully installed, was legally permitted to take on the role of acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York because he was the office’s first assistant at the time the top role was vacant, DOJ officials wrote in the administration’s opening brief in its appeal at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

As a backstop, DOJ also delegated authorities to Sarcone to conduct and supervise legal proceedings under the titles of “special attorney” and first assistant, according to DOJ’s brief.

DOJ is asking the appeals court to overturn US District Judge Lorna Schofield’s ruling disqualifying Sarcone from further investigating whether James violated President Donald Trump’s civil rights by suing him for fraud in 2022.

The department also asked the appeals court to vacate Schofield’s decision to quash the subponeas secured by Sarcone.

The brief continues the Trump administration’s defense of loyalist US attorneys installed through various legal maneuvers after the picks failed to secure a court appointment. Federal judges in the Northern District of New York declined in July 2025 to appoint Sarcone to the US attorney post after his interim term expired.

Federal judges attempted to install their own pick, longtime litigator Donald Kinsella, last month. But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on X that Kinsella was fired hours after his swearing in.

Judges so far have ruled that the administration’s attempts to keep US attorneys on in acting roles runs afoul of federal vacancy laws. Lindsey Halligan and Alina Habba, Trump’s picks for the Eastern District of Virginia and New Jersey, both resigned after courts ruled against their appointments.

DOJ noted in its brief Monday that other judges allowed Bill Essayli and Ryan Ellison, the top federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and New Mexico, to stay on as first assistant in their respective offices. That title is typically reserved for an office’s second-in-command who leads the office during a vacancy.

Henry Whitaker, counselor to the attorney general who has defended other US attorney appointments in federal courts, signed the brief Monday.

The case is Grand Jury Subpoenas to the Office of the New York State Attorney General v. US, 2d Cir., No. 26-156, 3/2/26.