LA Judges Recused From Motion to Disqualify Prosecutor Essayli

A motion to disqualify Los Angeles’ acting US attorney, Bill Essayli, will be heard by a Hawaii judge after all federal judges in his district were ordered not to participate in those proceedings.

Chief Judge Dolly M. Gee on Monday ordered all judges in the US District Court for the Central District of California to be recused from hearing motions about his disqualification. She ordered the case transferred to Senior District Judge J. Michael Seabright of the District of Hawaii.

The Ninth Circuit’s Chief Judge Mary Murguia designated him for the role.

The judges in July took no action to appoint Essayli to an indefinite role. He resigned as interim chief prosecutor before assuming an acting post.

Dozens of attorneys have left Essayli’s office since he took the helm as the district’s chief law enforcement officer. Many said, speaking to Bloomberg Law under conditions of anonymity, that Essayli’s disregard toward DOJ rules is why they left. The office said in July the allegations are based on inaccurate and misleading information.

Federal public defenders argued in an August motion Essayli should not be able to participate in criminal prosecutions because his post falls within a pattern of improper appointments to lead US attorneys offices. They pointed to the case of New Jersey’s acting top prosecutor, Alina Habba, who was deemed ineligible to serve in August by a Pennsylvania district judge.

For Habba, there was no docket entry announcing a district-wide recusal. Instead, Michael Chagares, the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, cited “the public interest” when he moved the case containing her disqualification motion to Judge Matthew W. Brann, of the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Seabright, the judge assigned to hear Essayli’s motion, is a nominee of former President George W. Bush. He assumed senior status last year.

The case is USA v. Ramirez, C.D. Cal., No. 5:25-cr-00264, 9/8/25.