Trump US Attorney in New Mexico Deemed Improperly Appointed (2)

New Mexico’s top federal prosecutor is unlawfully serving in the role, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in the latest judgment against the Trump administration’s moves to install individuals perceived as loyal to the president in several US attorney posts.

The Justice Department acted beyond its statutory authority when it appointed Ryan Ellison as acting US attorney for the District of New Mexico after his interim term expired, Senior US District Judge David Nuffer said in his decision granting in part criminal defendants’ challenge to Ellison’s status.

Nuffer, however, ruled that Ellison may stay in the office as first assistant, a title that usually belongs to a second-in-command who leads the office during a US attorney’s vacancy. The opinion is similar to a separate ruling by another judge that effectively allowed Bill Essayli to stay on as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.

Ellison, who has sparred with federal judges over his district’s mass arrests of migrants, is one of six temporary US attorneys to be challenged in court as Donald Trump’s administration tests the bounds of federal vacancy laws when installing top federal prosecutors, especially in heavily blue states. Federal judges have so far ruled that the Trump administration’s appointments run afoul of federal laws, though most remain in their offices as first assistant or another designation by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Even though my title has changed, my mission remains the same,” Ellison wrote in statement responding to Nuffer’s ruling.

“As the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico, I will work tirelessly to enhance public safety for all New Mexicans,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to work with public servants of all political stripes for the betterment of our state—for however long I serve.”

Nuffer, who was brought in from the US District Court for the District of Utah to rule on Ellison’s appointment, declined to dismiss indictments against Joshua Black and other criminal defendants, whose attorneys challenged Ellison’s appointment. Nuffer also said disqualifying Ellison was not an appropriate remedy in the case.

“There is no basis to preclude Mr. Ellison from performing the lawful duties” of first assistant “and those functions that were validly delegated to him,” he wrote.

Judges have so far declined to dismiss indictments against criminal defendants challenging US attorney appointments, with the exception of charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) brought by the Eastern District of Virginia’s top prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan. DOJ has since appealed the dismissal of those indictments.

Bondi first appointed Ellison, who previously served as an assistant US attorney in the office, to serve as New Mexico’s interim US attorney in April. That interim period expired in August, after which Bondi designated Ellison as the office’s first assistant US attorney before appointing him acting US attorney.

Margaret Katze, New Mexico’s chief federal public defender, filed the motion to disqualify Ellison in September, along with a motion to dismiss the indictment against Black. The 20-year-old Navajo Nation member faces multiple assault charges over an August incident in which he is accused of inflicting life-threatening injuries against one man and attacking two other individuals.

Katze and federal public defender Buck Glanz wrote in their Sept. 10 motion that the indictment was secured by Ellison at a time when he was “an improperly designated acting U.S. Attorney,” and “at a minimum, Mr. Ellison and all those under his supervision should be disqualified from participating in criminal prosecutions in this district.”

DOJ, however, maintained that Ellison was validly serving in an acting capacity under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, writing in an Oct. 14 court filing that Bondi “validly designated Mr. Ellison to perform the delegable tasks of the U.S. Attorney when she appointed him to serve as the First Assistant and thus Acting U.S. Attorney.”

Nuffer requested additional briefing from both parties after a Nov. 14 hearing on the motion to disqualify Ellison, seeking information on whether there were duties, authorities, and powers that an appointed US attorney would have that could not also be held by an office’s first assistant.

Katze wrote in a Dec. 5 brief that “the U.S. Attorney’s power cannot be siphoned off to other attorneys in the office.” DOJ responded in a Dec. 19 filing, arguing the attorney general holds broad authority to delegate responsibilities of the US attorney to Ellison or another individual designated as the office’s first assistant.

Katze said in an email Thursday that the determination that Ellison was improperly appointed is a “big win,” but added that allowing him to stay on as first assistant gives the administration “a free pass to violate fundamental constitutional principles.”

“Until the government faces consequences for its unlawful actions, they will not change their unlawful appointment conduct,” Katze said.

The case is USA v. Black, D.N.M., No. 1:25-cr-03354, order 1/14/26.