2026-08-21T18:02:48.365Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
一个意见分歧的联邦上诉法院裁定，特朗普任命的奥尔巴尼美国检察官任职非法，不得再参与对总统一位主要对手的调查。
美国第二巡回上诉法院以2比1的投票结果，维持了下级法院今年1月的裁决。该裁决认为，时任纽约北部地区代理美国检察官约翰·萨科尼的任命无效，并取消了他对纽约州总检察长莉蒂夏·詹姆斯的调查资格。
这是联邦上诉法院第三次裁定特朗普政府未经参议院批准任命美国检察官的程序非法。
美国司法部周五在推特上表示：“我们不同意法院的裁决，打算将此案提交最高法院。”
本周早些时候，美国第九巡回上诉法院裁定内华达州美国检察官西加尔·查塔任职非法。司法部表示将向最高法院提起上诉。去年12月，第三巡回法院裁定阿莉娜·哈巴被任命为新泽西州美国检察官的程序无效。
下个月，第四巡回法院将开庭审理一项相关争议：下级法院认定前特朗普律师林赛·哈利根被任命为弗吉尼亚州东部地区美国检察官的程序非法，法院将对此裁决是否成立进行辩论。
这些裁决的影响各不相同。在美国检察官单独行动的案件中，相关的起诉书或传票已被撤销——例如针对纽约州总检察长詹姆斯的传票和单独起诉书，以及针对前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米的伪证起诉书。
在其他美国检察官身份受到成功质疑的案件中，由于有合法任职的助理美国检察官参与了相关案件，起诉书并未被撤销。
萨科尼仍担任美国检察官第一助理一职，并于周四召开新闻发布会，宣布指控一名女子策划受伊斯兰国启发的恐怖袭击，企图炸毁纽约奥尔巴尼的州议会大厦。查塔仍以美国检察官第一助理的身份领导内华达州办公室。
弗吉尼亚州法官施加的压力导致哈巴辞职，她曾向大陪审团提交了对科米的首份起诉书。在新泽西州，法官下令就相关团队的结构进行宣誓作证后，司法部放弃了原本计划接替哈巴的三人团队，哈巴本人早已辞职。新泽西州首席法官最终在与司法部协商后任命了下一任美国检察官。
司法部一直为其任命程序和做法进行激烈辩护，称其做法是将律师任命为第一助理或特别律师，随后授予其代理美国检察官的职权。
驳回司法部论点的多数意见由拜登提名的玛丽亚·阿劳霍·卡恩法官和比尔·克林顿提名的吉多·卡拉布雷西法官共同出具。
二人裁定，《联邦空缺职位改革法案》规定，只有在美国检察官职位出现空缺时担任该职位第一助理的人员才能接任该职务，而非由政府为绕过参议院确认程序而任命的人员。
他们写道：“在职位空缺后指定第一助理根本不是自动继任；这是一种刻意且自由裁量的选择，未遵循国会制定的任何标准。”
“因此，政府的解读奖励了规避行为，惩罚了合规行为——这对于国会为阻止行政部门规避《空缺法案》而制定的法规而言，是一种奇怪的设计。”多数意见写道。
意见还提到，政府已承认萨科尼不能再担任代理美国检察官，因为他的任期已超过210天的限制。
“截至本裁决作出之时，总统尚未向参议院提交提名候选人，且据政府称，萨科尼仍在实际领导美国检察官办公室，”意见称。
在周五的裁决中，第二巡回法院由特朗普任命的法官迈克尔·帕克持不同意见，支持司法部的程序。
“对该法规更合理的解读是，任何职位空缺的第一助理均可担任代理官员，仅受第3346条规定的时间限制约束，”帕克写道。根据《联邦空缺法案》第3346条，代理官员的任职期限为210天。
“多数意见基于法规结构提出的论点实际上是政策论点，忽视了国会的共识：行政部门必须在过渡和政治僵局时期保持运作，”他补充道。
Trump US attorney pick can no longer investigate one of the president’s top foes, court rules
2026-08-21T18:02:48.365Z / CNN
A divided federal appeals court ruled that the Trump-picked US Attorney in Albany is serving unlawfully and can no longer be involved in the investigation of one of the president’s top foes.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld a lower court’s ruling from January that said the appointment of John Sarcone, then-Acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, is not valid and disqualified him from a probe into the state’s Attorney General Letitia James.
The decision marks the third time a federal appeals court has rejected as unlawful the Trump administration’s process for naming US attorneys without Senate approval.
“We disagree with the court’s decision, and intend to take this case to the Supreme Court,” the Justice Department wrote in a tweet Friday.
Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the US attorney for Nevada, Sigal Chattah, is serving unlawfully. The Justice Department said it would appeal to the Supreme Court. In December the Third Circuit ruled that Alina Habba was not validly appointed US attorney for New Jersey.
Next month, the Fourth Circuit will hear arguments over whether a lower court’s finding that the appointment of former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan as US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was unlawful.
The impact of those decisions has varied. In the cases where the US attorney acted alone, the underlying indictment or subpoenas were dismissed — such as the subpoena and separate indictment of New York Attorney General James and the perjury indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
In other decisions where the US attorneys’ status was successfully challenged, the indictments were not dismissed because other legally serving assistant US attorneys were involved in the underlying cases.
Sarcone continues to serve as First Assistant US attorney and held a press conference on Thursday to announce a criminal complaint charging a woman in an ISIS-inspired terror plot to blow up the capitol building in Albany, New York. Chattah is still leading the Nevada office as First Assistant US attorney.
Pressure by judges in Virginia led to the resignation of Halligan, who had presented Comey’s first indictment to a grand jury. In New Jersey DOJ abandoned the three-person team named to replace Habba, who had already resigned, after a judge ordered sworn testimony about its structure. The chief judge in New Jersey ultimately named the next US attorney in consultation with DOJ.
The Justice Department has vigorously defended its appointments and the process they have used — naming their lawyers as first assistants or special attorneys and then delegating them authority to serve as acting US attorneys.
The majority opinion, which rejected DOJ’s argument, was issued by Judge Maria Araujo Kahn, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, and Judge Guido Calabresi, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton.
They found that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act says only the First Assistant in the position at the time the US attorney’s post becomes vacant can step into the role — not someone the administration places into the position to bypass the Senate confirmation process.
“Designating a First Assistant after the vacancy is not automatic succession at all; it is a deliberate and discretionary choice made without any of the criteria Congress enacted,” they wrote.
“The Government’s reading thus rewards evasion and penalizes compliance—a strange design for a statute Congress enacted to stop the Executive from skirting the Vacancies Act,” the majority wrote.
It noted that the government has conceded that Sarcone can no longer serve as Acting US attorney because his tenure has exceeded the 210-day limit.
“As of this decision, the President has not submitted a nominee to the Senate and, according to the Government, Sarcone continues to serve as the operative head of the U.S. Attorney’s office,” it said.
In Friday’s decision, a Trump-appointed judge on the Second Circuit, Michael Park, dissented from the majority and agreed with DOJ’s process.
“The better reading of the statute is that any first assistant to a vacant office becomes acting officer, subject only to the time limits in § 3346,” Park wrote. Under section 3346 of the Federal Vacancies Act an acting officer can serve for 210 days.
“And the majority’s arguments based on statutory structure are actually policy arguments that overlook Congress’s understanding that the executive branch must function during periods of transition and political stalemate,” he added.
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