2026年8月21日 / 美国东部时间下午2:42 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿—— 联邦上诉法院周五裁定，纽约北部地区联邦首席检察官在去年针对纽约州总检察长蒂夏·詹姆斯的两项调查中发出传票时，其任职行为非法。
美国司法部发言人迅速表示，特朗普政府打算直接向最高法院提起上诉，这将引发一场对决：特朗普政府在全国范围内反复试图绕过联邦法律，不经参议院确认就能留任其选定的检察官。
美国第二巡回上诉法院以2比1的投票结果驳回了约翰·萨科尼的诉求。萨科尼担任奥尔巴尼美国检察官办公室负责人已有一年多时间。
多数派的两名法官表示，萨科尼2025年的任命不符合《联邦空缺职位改革法案》，这意味着他在针对詹姆斯发出传票时，并未合法担任代理美国检察官一职。
“文本、结构和历史都指向同一个结论，”吉多·卡拉布雷西法官写道。“我们认定，只有在职位出现空缺时在岗的第一助理，才能根据《空缺职位法案》担任代理官员。萨科尼并不符合这一条件。”
迈克尔·帕克法官持不同意见。
特朗普先生及其政府曾试图利用两项不同法律，不经参议院确认就任命其心仪人选担任全美各地美国检察官办公室负责人。这两项法律都被用来保留萨科尼作为奥尔巴尼联邦首席检察官的职位。
第一项法律允许司法部长任命临时美国检察官，最长任期为120天。任期结束后，该地区的法官可以选择延长该人的任期，或者任命新的人选，直至参议院确认继任者。
第二项法律即《联邦空缺职位改革法案》，允许空缺职位的副手升任领导职位，并以代理身份任职210天。该法案还规定了另外两类联邦官员可以接任受该法案约束的职位。
萨科尼曾是特朗普总统的竞选律师，去年被最初任命为包括奥尔巴尼在内的纽约北部地区临时美国检察官。当他的120天任期结束后，该地区法官拒绝留任他。时任司法部长帕姆·邦迪随后任命他为特别律师，并任命他为该办公室的第一助理美国检察官。司法部表示，萨科尼被任命为副手，以便之后可以升任代理美国检察官，任期210天。
但上诉法院表示，《联邦空缺职位改革法案》仅允许在美国检察官职位出现空缺时已在岗的副手升任代理职位。由于萨科尼在美国检察官职位空缺数月后才被任命为第一助理，多数派裁定，他在针对詹姆斯发出传票时，并未合法担任代理美国检察官一职。
詹姆斯于2025年8月被传唤，这是针对其办公室处理对全国步枪协会和特朗普先生调查的调查的一部分。传票发出后，她起诉要求撤销传票，辩称萨科尼的任命非法。
司法部辩称，授予萨科尼的“特别律师”头衔赋予了他传票权，并表示他合法担任代理美国检察官一职。
今年1月，纽约北部地区的一名美国地区法官认定萨科尼“并未合法担任代理美国检察官”，并裁定“他以该身份过去或未来采取的任何行为均为无效或可撤销，因为这些行为所依据的职权是萨科尼亚并未合法拥有的”。
大约一个月后，在萨科尼被取消资格后，纽约的一个法官小组任命了新的联邦首席检察官。但在数小时内，司法部宣布已解雇该法官小组任命的新人，使得萨科尼得以在上诉期间实际领导该办公室。
卡拉布雷西为上诉法院多数派撰写了判决意见，他表示，政府对空缺职位法案的解读“是在奖励规避行为，惩罚合规行为”。
他说，如果将法律解读为“涵盖在职位出现空缺后被任命为第一助理的人”，将“彻底颠覆《联邦空缺职位改革法案》的常识性框架”。“按照这种解读，总统几乎可以随便任命任何人担任代理官员，只需将其任命为第一助理即可，无论他们是否具备国会要求行政部门偏离默认规则所需的资格。”
总统已经使用其新颖的多步骤机制，在内华达州、新泽西州、加利福尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州，在120天任期结束后继续留任某些临时美国检察官。这些做法已在法庭上受到挑战。
在新泽西州，白宫和司法部曾多次试图保留特朗普的另一名律师阿丽娜·哈巴担任当地联邦首席检察官。去年12月，在联邦上诉法院裁定哈巴的任命非法后，哈巴宣布辞职。邦迪批评了这一裁决，称这使得哈巴“有效管理办公室”变得“站不住脚”。
总统试图任命其前私人律师、白宫助手林赛·哈利根领导弗吉尼亚州东部美国检察官办公室，这也导致一名法官驳回了针对前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米和纽约州总检察长蒂夏·詹姆斯的起诉。司法部正在就该判决提起上诉，该判决裁定哈利根被非法任命为临时美国检察官。
本月早些时候，美国第九巡回上诉法院的一个法官小组裁定，特朗普内华达州美国检察官人选西加尔·查塔在120天任期限制结束后仍留任，其任职行为非法。在其任期即将届满的前一天，查塔辞职，邦迪任命她为第一助理美国检察官，并表示她有权继续担任代理美国检察官。
特朗普在洛杉矶的美国检察官人选比尔·埃塞利也被认定数月来非法任职，这使他无法监督某些刑事案件。
与萨科尼一样，查塔和埃塞利目前仍以第一助理美国检察官的身份担任相关职务。
Appeals court says federal prosecutor who subpoenaed Letitia James was unlawfully appointed
August 21, 2026 / 2:42 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington— A federal appeals court on Friday said the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of New York was unlawfully serving in his role when he subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of two investigations into her last year.
A Justice Department spokesperson quickly said the Trump administration intends to appeal the ruling directly to the Supreme Court, setting up a showdown over the Trump administration’s repeated attempts across the country to make an end-run around federal law to keep their choice of prosecutors in office without Senate confirmation.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled against John Sarcone, who has been leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albany for more than a year.
The two judges in the majority said Sarcone’s appointment in 2025 did not conform with a federal law known as the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, meaning he was not lawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney when he secured the subpoenas targeting James.
“Text, structure, and history all point the same way,” Judge Guido Calabresi wrote. “We hold that only the First Assistant in place when a vacancy arises may become the acting officer under [the Vacancies Act]. Sarcone was not.”
Judge Michael Park dissented.
Mr. Trump and his administration have attempted to use two different laws to install their preferred picks to lead U.S. attorney’s offices around the country without Senate confirmation. Both were invoked to keep Sarcone as the top federal prosecutor in Albany.
John Sarcone at a news conference on Monday, April 28, 2025, in Albany, New York. Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images
The first allows the attorney general to appoint an interim U.S. attorney, who can serve for a maximum of 120 days. Once that clock runs out, the judges serving in the district may either extend the person’s tenure, or appoint a new person to serve until the Senate confirms a replacement.
The second approach, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, allows the deputy to the vacant office to be elevated into the leadership position and serve for 210 days in an acting capacity. It also lays out two other categories of federal officials who can move into a position covered by the law.
Sarcone, a former campaign attorney for President Trump, was initially appointed to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in the Northern District of New York, which includes Albany, last year. When his 120-day term ran out, judges in the district declined to retain him. Instead, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him as a special attorney and named him first assistant U.S. attorney in the office. The Justice Department said Sarcone was tapped for the deputy role so he could then be elevated to acting U.S. attorney for 210 days.
But the appeals court said that the FVRA only allows a deputy who is already in place when a U.S. attorney position opens up to be elevated to the acting role. Because Sarcone was named first assistant months after the U.S. attorney position became vacant, he was not lawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney when he secured the subpoenas targeting James, the majority ruled.
James was subpoenaed in August 2025 as part of probes into her office’s handling of investigations into the National Rifle Association and Mr. Trump. After the subpoenas were issued, she sued to quash them, arguing that Sarcone was unlawfully appointed.
The Justice Department argued that the “special attorney” title given to Sarcone gave him subpoena power and said he had been lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney.
In January, a U.S. district judge in the Northern District of New York found that Sarcone was “not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney” and ruled that “any of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have.”
About a month later, a panel of judges in New York appointed a new top federal prosecutor after Sarcone was disqualified. But within hours, the Justice Department announced it had fired the judges’ new hire, allowing Sarcone to effectively lead the office as the appeal played out.
Calabresi, who authored the opinion for the appeals court’s majority on Friday, said that the government’s reading of the vacancies law “rewards evasion and penalizes compliance.”
Reading the law to “encompass First Assistants who are designated after the vacancy arises would turn the FVRA’s common-sense framework on its head,” he said. “Under that reading, the President could install virtually anyone as the acting officer simply by naming that person First Assistant, regardless of whether they possessed any of the qualifications Congress required for the Executive to depart from the default.”
The president has used his novel, multi-step mechanism to keep certain interim U.S. attorneys in place after the 120-day clock runs out in Nevada, New Jersey, California and Virginia. The efforts have been challenged in court.
In New Jersey, the White House and Justice Department attempted multiple times to keep another of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Alina Habba, as top federal prosecutor there. In December, Habba announced she was stepping down from her post after a federal appeals court ruled that she was unlawfully appointed to her role. Bondi criticized the ruling, saying it made it “untenable” for Habba “to effectively run her office.”
The president’s attempt to install Lindsey Halligan, his former personal lawyer and a White House aide, to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in eastern Virginia also led a judge to toss out indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Justice Department is appealing that decision, in which a judge ruled Halligan was unlawfully appointed interim U.S. attorney.
Earlier this month, an appeals court panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Sigal Chattah, Mr. Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney in Nevada, was also serving unlawfully in her role after she remained in the job after the 120-day limit. The day before her term was set to expire, Chattah resigned and Bondi appointed her first assistant U.S. attorney and said she had the power to remain as acting U.S. attorney.
Mr. Trump’s selection for U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, was also found to have been serving unlawfully in his role for months, disqualifying him from supervising some criminal cases.
Chattah and Essayli, like Sarcone, have remained in their roles for now under the first assistant U.S. attorney title.
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