A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that Sigal Chattah is not lawfully serving as Nevada’s acting U.S. Attorney, finding that the Trump administration tried to extend her leadership past her interim term’s legal limit by naming her First Assistant to an office that had already become vacant, then delegating the U.S. Attorney’s full authority to her — a maneuver the Federal Vacancies Reform Act does not allow.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the disqualification on Monday, August 17, 2026, in a 36-page opinion authored by Circuit Judge Eric D. Miller. The ruling upholds an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell, who found on September 30, 2025 that Chattah was not validly serving in the role.
Key facts
- Ruling: A Ninth Circuit panel affirmed on August 17, 2026 that Sigal Chattah is not lawfully serving as Nevada’s acting U.S. Attorney
- Law at issue: The Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which requires a “first assistant” to have held that post before the vacancy opened
- How she got the role: The Attorney General appointed her interim U.S. Attorney under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 546 on April 1, 2025; Attorney General Pam Bondi later retitled her “first assistant” as her term neared its end
- Effect on cases: The ruling bars Chattah from supervising or participating in the specific prosecutions that challenged her, including United States v. Jackson — it does not dismiss those indictments or remove her from the office outright
- DOJ (Department of Justice) response: Plans to appeal to the Supreme Court
- Permanent replacement: George Kelesis, nominated in February 2026, remains stalled in the Senate
Timeline
- April 1, 2025 — The Attorney General appoints Chattah interim U.S. Attorney for Nevada under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 546, for a 120-day term, after Jason Frierson resigns
- September 30, 2025 — U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell rules Chattah is not validly serving in the role
- February 2026 — The White House nominates George Kelesis as the permanent, Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney
- July 2026 — The Nevada Independent reports Kelesis’s nomination has gone roughly 153 days without a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
- August 17, 2026 — A Ninth Circuit panel affirms the disqualification ruling
What the court found
The case turns on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the law that governs who can temporarily run a federal office like a U.S. Attorney’s post while a permanent, Senate-confirmed replacement is pending. Under that law, a “first assistant” — the office’s second-in-command — can automatically step up to lead the office when a vacancy opens. But that only works if the person already held the first-assistant job before the vacancy occurred — stepping into the role afterward does not count.
Chattah did not. The Attorney General appointed her interim U.S. Attorney for Nevada under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 546 on April 1, 2025, for a 120-day term, after her predecessor, Jason Frierson, resigned. As that term neared its end, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi retitled her “first assistant” so she could keep leading the office without a new Senate confirmation. The panel held that maneuver did not satisfy the law, because Chattah was named to the first-assistant post only after the vacancy already existed. The judges also rejected a separate argument that the administration could reach the same result by simply delegating nearly all of the U.S. Attorney’s duties to Chattah under a different title.
What it means for pending cases
The ruling does not throw out the criminal cases Chattah’s office has been prosecuting. Its remedy is narrower than its finding: the case reached the courts because federal public defenders, representing a group of criminal defendants that includes those in United States v. Jackson, challenged Chattah’s authority within their own prosecutions — so the judges ruled only on the dispute brought before them, barring her from supervising or participating in those specific cases rather than issuing a broader order removing her from the office altogether. Those indictments stand, and the panel did not dismiss them — they can proceed under other leadership at the office. The ruling addresses only that narrow bar; it does not spell out who holds authority over the rest of the office’s work, and no source reviewed for this article confirms whether Chattah has stepped back from her broader role or who, if anyone, is now handling the office’s day-to-day leadership.
The ruling is also not a finding of wrongdoing by Chattah herself. It concerns whether the mechanism used to keep her in the job satisfied a federal appointments law, not any allegation of misconduct or a criminal charge against her.
The response
A Justice Department spokesperson said the same day that the department disagrees with the decision: “We disagree with the 9th Circuit’s decision, and we plan to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.” No petition asking the Supreme Court to take up the case has been confirmed as filed.
Nevada’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen — whose approval is customarily required before a U.S. Attorney nominee is confirmed — have opposed Chattah’s appointment. Rosen said Monday that “it’s past time for her to vacate the position.”
Who replaces her
The ruling leaves open when the office will get a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader. The White House named its nominee for the post in February 2026: George Kelesis, a longtime Las Vegas defense attorney. His confirmation has stalled in the Senate. As of a July 2026 report by The Nevada Independent, his nomination had gone roughly 153 days without even a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing — on pace to be the longest wait for a Nevada U.S. Attorney nominee this century — and still needs sign-off from Cortez Masto and Rosen before it can reach a floor vote.
Who is Sigal Chattah
Chattah spent more than 20 years as a civil and criminal defense attorney in Las Vegas before entering politics. She was the Republican nominee for Nevada Attorney General in 2022, losing to Democratic incumbent Aaron Ford, and has served as a Nevada Republican National Committeewoman. During that 2022 campaign, Chattah made a remark about Ford, who is Black, that was widely condemned as racist. She has said she never considered apologizing. She later became a Trump ally; the Attorney General appointed her interim federal prosecutor for Nevada in April 2025.