Bill Essayli Says He’s Valid Acting US Attorney for LA District

Acting US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in court documents filed Friday that he’s qualified to prosecute cases as a valid acting US attorney.

Essayli’s arguments come in response to a motion by the federal public defender’s office in Los Angeles to disqualify him from criminal prosecutions because he has no lawful authority under federal appointments law.

But even if there are doubts as to the validity of Essayli’s status as acting US attorney, Attorney General Pam Bondi has validly appointed him as a special attorney and has delegated him authority to supervise pending prosecutions in the Central District of California, Essayli’s response said.

Essayli, who’s been a political lightning rod since he came on as LA’s top federal prosecutor in March, has stayed on as an acting US attorney even after his 120-day term as interim US attorney lapsed in July. Bloomberg Law reported that his office has seen an exodus of prosecutors who said that Essayli’s disregard toward DOJ rules is why they left. His office said those allegations were based on inaccurate and misleading information.

Essayli’s response said he resigned from the interim US attorney position, and that same day the US attorney general appointed him as special attorney and designated him as first assistant US attorney. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act allows the first assistant to take on the role of acting US attorney when the position is vacant, Essayli argued.

“That plain-text interpretation of the FVRA is both straightforward and longstanding,” his response said. Even the Government Accountability Office, the congressional body charged with monitoring FVRA compliance, has said that first assistants can serve as an acting US attorney even if they didn’t become first assistant until after the vacancy arose, Essayli argued.

The LA public defender’s office argued that Essayli is among a “pattern of improper appointments” to top US attorney positions because he didn’t previously hold a role that would allow him to become an acting US attorney and his 120-day interim service has already run out. The public defender’s office pointed to the decision of a federal judge who ruled in August that the Justice Department violated the law by appointing Alina Habba as acting US attorney for New Jersey after her interim period expired.

Essayli’s disqualification decision is now in the hands of a federal judge in Hawaii after all the judges in the US District Court for the Central District of California were ordered to recuse themselves from the proceedings. Those judges in July took no action to appoint Essayli to an indefinite role.

The case is USA v. Ramirez, C.D. Cal., No. 5:25-cr-00264, 9/19/25.