Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor pushed back against a federal judge’s ruling that he can’t legally continue serving as acting US attorney.
asserted
he → push → attorney
Bill Essayli, First Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California, insisted that the decision has no immediate effect on his authority to oversee federal prosecutions.
asserted
decision → insist → prosecutions
“Just so there’s no confusion, today’s order is stayed and has no immediate effect,” Essayli said on social media.
asserted
Essayli → ’ → media
“I remain First Assistant U.S. Attorney and continue running the office.
asserted
I → remain → office
The Supreme Court will ultimately decide this matter.”
asserted
Court → decide → matter
US District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled on Tuesday that Essayli “is unlawfully serving as a ‘defacto’ United States Attorney.”
While the decision may affect Essayli’s capacity to oversee cases.
uncertain
decision → rule → cases
Seabright denied motions to dismiss two cases filed while Essayli continued to be in charge of the office under a different title.
asserted
Essayli → deny → title
Last year, the Trump administration appointed Essayli to serve as Acting US Attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles.
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which → appoint → Angeles
Then-US Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him First Assistant US Attorney before the 120-day limit on his Acting US Attorney role.
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Bondi → appoint → role
In October 2025, Seabright disqualified Essayli from overseeing several criminal cases, arguing that he had overstayed the time allowed for the position.
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he → disqualify → position
Still, Essayli was allowed to continue to serve as a First Assistant U.S. attorney.
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Essayli → allow → attorney
The Trump administration never appointed a replacement for him.
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administration → appoint → him
A Los Angeles federal judge is expected to rule Wednesday on the Trump administration’s request to set aside thousands of mail-in ballots belonging to voters federal officials suspect are not US citizens.
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officials → expect → voters
During a hearing Tuesday, attorneys for the Department of Justice and California officials presented arguments over the administration’s effort to separate ballots belonging to roughly 20,000 voters federal prosecutors believe were unlawfully registered.
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prosecutors → present → voters
The judge appeared reluctant to grant the request.
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judge → appear → request
Essayli and Attorney General Todd Blanche have been leading the Justice Department’s effort to require California election officials to set aside the disputed ballots and verify voters’ citizenship before counting their votes.
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Essayli → lead → votes
“Every minute that goes by, American citizen votes are being diluted in the state of California,” Essayli said last week.
asserted
Essayli → go → California
“It’s an emergency, and we expect the courts to treat it as such.”
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courts → ’ → it
Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and the government says some people have already been criminally charged over alleged illegal registration and voting.
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people → prohibit → registration
As the court battle played out this past weekend, Essayli told the California Post he feared that noncitizens could be illegally casting ballots as polling places opened across LA County.
uncertain
places → play → County
“If you look at California’s own papers, they said they’ve already processed over 300,000 ballots just for LA County,” he said Saturday.
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he → look → County
“So this is going on as we speak.”
asserted
we → go → ?
The Department of Justice sued the state over its list of roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters after California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan failed to review the names within the government’s requested timeframe.
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Weber → sue → timeframe
Once election workers separate ballots from their envelopes, the government argues, identifying individual voters becomes impossible — making it critical to keep potentially ineligible ballots separate before they are counted.
asserted
they → separate → ballots
The Aporia
