# How a U.S. Attorney Is Appointed and Removed The ninety-three U.S. attorneys are the offices where every federal criminal case actually begins, and the only Senate-confirmed prosecutors outside Main Justice. This map shows the four ways a person can come to occupy one of those chairs, what ends each of them, and the after-the-fact courtroom procedure that is the only real test an appointment ever gets. The structural fact that organizes everything below: **Congress wrote exactly one way to fill the office without the Senate, and gave the second turn of the key to the district court.** Under **28 U.S.C. § 546** the Attorney General gets a single 120-day interim appointment; when that expires without a confirmed successor, the appointment power does not revert to the Attorney General — it moves to the **judiciary**, the one actor the executive cannot appoint, remove, or overrule. The statute's failure mode is not deadlock. It is **reversion**. Every workaround used in 2025–26 is an attempt to stop that reversion from happening, and each one has now failed, in a different circuit, on a different statute. Sibling maps: [[How a Nominee Becomes a Federal Judge]] maps the parallel Article III track that clears the same [[Blue Slip]]; [[Special Counsel Appointment and Removal Flow]] maps the office whose § 600.2(c) off-ramp hands every conflicted matter to exactly this one; [[How a Federal Prosecution Begins and Ends]] picks up where this map leaves off, at the charging decision this officer signs. [[DOJ Component Tree]] shows the department these offices hang from. > [!note] How to read this chart > `──▶` = the main path · `└─▶` = a branch · `◇` = a decision point · `✕` = the path ends or the theory was rejected · `★` = the officer takes office · `§` = a section of 28 U.S.C. unless another title is named · `[bracketed]` = a dated 2025–26 practice note or caveat. Everything inside the fence is plain text; linked entities appear in the prose, Notes, and See also. ``` HOW A U.S. ATTORNEY IS APPOINTED AND REMOVED (as of September 17, 2026) │ Legend: ──▶ main path └─▶ branch ◇ decision ✕ ends/rejected ★ takes office │ § = 28 U.S.C. unless another title is named │ [] = dated 2025-26 practice note or caveat │ ■ 0. THE OFFICE — 93 OFFICERS FOR 94 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS │ ├─ § 541(a) .. one U.S. attorney for each judicial district, appointed by the │ │ President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate │ │ [Guam and the N. Mariana Islands share one officer -> 93 for 94] │ ├─ § 541(b) .. FOUR-YEAR TERM — it expires, but the officer HOLDS OVER until a │ │ successor is appointed and qualifies. A term, not a tenure. │ ├─ § 541(c) .. "is subject to removal by the President" — at will, no cause │ └─ § 547 .... the duties: prosecute all offenses against the United States in │ the district, defend the U.S. in civil actions, collect its debts │ │ ONE OFFICE, FOUR WAYS IN. Only Route A carries a term. The other three are │ temporary fills, and the entire 2025-26 fight is over how long they may last. │ ├──▶ ROUTE A — PRESIDENT + SENATE (§ 541) the only permanent route │ │ │ ├─ 1. Home-state senators recommend · White House Counsel vets · FBI background │ │ └─▶ [custom, not law — it collapses whenever the home-state delegation │ │ belongs to the other party, which is when Routes B-D get used] │ ├─ 2. PRESIDENT NOMINATES ──▶ referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee │ ├─ 3. ◇ BLUE SLIP — both home-state senators must return one │ │ ├─yes─▶ hearing · questionnaire · committee vote │ │ └─no──▶ the nominee is never scheduled ✕ │ │ [a COMMITTEE CUSTOM, revocable by the chair at any time. Still │ │ honored for U.S. attorneys and district judges; abandoned for │ │ circuit judges in 2017-18] │ ├─ 4. Committee reports ──▶ Senate floor │ │ └─▶ confirmed EN BLOC, in packages, by voice vote or one roll call │ │ [Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys in the 119th Congress have │ │ arrived in batches: 16 in Oct 2025, 14 in Dec 2025, 13 in │ │ May 2026, 4 in Aug 2026] │ ├─ 5. ★ APPOINTED, COMMISSIONED, SWORN — the four-year term begins │ └─ 6. Serves at the pleasure of the President ──────────▶ see 5. REMOVAL │ ├──▶ ROUTE B — INTERIM APPOINTMENT BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (§ 546(a)-(c)) │ │ The fast fill. No Senate, no court, no hearing — a signature. │ │ │ ├─ § 546(a) .. the AG "may appoint a United States attorney" for a district in │ │ which the office is vacant │ ├─ § 546(b) .. THE BAR: the AG shall NOT appoint a person to whose appointment │ │ by the President the Senate REFUSED to give advice and consent │ ├─ § 546(c) .. the appointment runs until the EARLIER of │ │ (1) a § 541 presidential appointee qualifying, or │ │ (2) 120 DAYS after the AG's appointment │ │ [added by Pub. L. 110-34 in June 2007, restoring a cap Congress │ │ had deleted in the 2006 PATRIOT Act reauthorization] │ └─ ◇ DAY 120 ARRIVES WITH NO CONFIRMED SUCCESSOR │ └─▶ the appointment EXPIRES BY OPERATION OF LAW ────────▶ ROUTE C │ [courts have read § 546 to authorize ONE 120-day appointment per │ vacancy — the power does not reset and does not return to the AG] │ ├──▶ ROUTE C — THE DISTRICT COURT APPOINTS (§ 546(d)) THE BACKSTOP │ │ The unusual provision, and the hinge of the whole design: the │ │ appointment power moves to the JUDICIARY. │ │ │ ├─ Who acts ..... the district court for that district — in practice the board │ │ or council of active district judges, acting by order │ ├─ What it does . appoints a U.S. attorney "to serve until the vacancy is │ │ filled"; the order is filed with the clerk of the court │ ├─ How long ..... NO 120-day cap. A court appointee can outlast an entire │ │ nomination fight, and serves on the court's authority │ └─ ◇ WHAT THE COURT ACTUALLY DOES WITH THE POWER │ ├─ appoints the sitting interim ──▶ continuity, but the officer now │ │ holds by judicial order, not the AG's │ ├─ appoints someone else ────────▶ commonly a career official or the │ │ standing first assistant │ └─ DECLINES TO ACT ─────────────▶ the office runs on an acting or │ delegated official ──────▶ ROUTE D │ [N.D.N.Y.'s board of judges expressly declined to exercise § 546(d), │ July 2025 — a public refusal, stated in one sentence, no reasons] │ ├──▶ ROUTE D — THE WORKAROUNDS (2025-26: defeating the § 546(d) reversion) │ │ Three instruments, none of them § 546, all aimed at one result — keeping │ │ an unconfirmed appointee in the chair past day 120. │ │ │ ├─◆ D1. FIRST-ASSISTANT ELEVATION — Federal Vacancies Reform Act │ │ ├─ 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(1) . the FIRST ASSISTANT to a vacant Senate- │ │ │ confirmed office performs its functions and │ │ │ duties temporarily, in an ACTING capacity │ │ ├─ 5 U.S.C. § 3346 ....... 210 days from the date the vacancy OCCURRED, │ │ │ with tolling while a nomination is pending │ │ ├─ THE MOVE ............. name the expiring interim "first assistant," │ │ │ then let the FVRA elevate her to "acting" │ │ └─ ✕ REJECTED. The FVRA elevates a first assistant who ALREADY HELD │ │ THAT JOB WHEN THE VACANCY OPENED — not one installed months later │ │ [3d Cir. Dec 1, 2025 · 9th Cir. Aug 18, 2026 · 2d Cir. Aug 21, 2026] │ │ │ ├─◆ D2. "SPECIAL ATTORNEY" DESIGNATION — 28 U.S.C. § 515 │ │ ├─ lets the AG specially retain an attorney to conduct any kind of legal │ │ │ proceeding, "including grand jury proceedings" │ │ └─ but it confers LITIGATING AUTHORITY, NOT THE OFFICE. A person can do │ │ every piece of the work and still not BE the U.S. attorney │ │ [used in tandem with D1 in the 2025-26 designations] │ │ │ └─◆ D3. WHOLESALE DELEGATION — 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510 │ ├─ the AG may delegate "any function" to any other DOJ officer or │ │ employee, and may authorize successive redelegation │ └─ ✕ REJECTED as a route to the office: the AG cannot create a DE FACTO │ acting U.S. attorney by delegating ALL of the office's functions and │ duties to one person [9th Cir., Aug 2026] │ ├──▶ 5. REMOVAL — WHAT ENDS EACH ROUTE, AND WHO DECIDES │ ├─ § 541 appointee ......... the PRESIDENT, at will, no cause, no notice, no │ │ finding — § 541(c) is unqualified │ │ [in practice the demand is conveyed through the │ │ Deputy AG's office; refusal to resign is simply │ │ followed by removal] │ ├─ § 546 interim ........... the AG, by rescinding — or the 120-day clock, │ │ which requires nobody's signature at all │ ├─ § 546(d) court appointee the President's § 541(c) removal power reaches │ │ this officer too. But the COURT cannot be ordered │ │ to appoint a replacement, and may decline │ ├─ FVRA acting official .... the 210-day clock, or withdrawal of the │ │ designation that created the acting status │ └─ EVERY ROUTE .............. resignation, or a § 541 successor qualifying │ └──▶ 6. THE CHALLENGE TRACK — WHERE AN APPOINTMENT ACTUALLY GETS TESTED │ Not in the Senate. By a DEFENDANT or a SUBPOENA RECIPIENT, after the │ fact, in a courtroom, as a collateral attack on the officer's authority. │ ├─ WHO RAISES IT ... a charged defendant, by motion to dismiss the indictment, │ or a grand-jury target, by motion to quash the subpoena ├─ ON WHAT GROUND .. § 546 read as a one-appointment statute · the FVRA's │ first-assistant limit · the Appointments Clause ├─ ◇ WHAT THE COURT CAN DO ABOUT IT │ ├─ DISQUALIFY the official from this matter ──▶ office continues, the │ │ case is reassigned │ ├─ QUASH the grand jury subpoenas issued on the bad authority │ ├─ DISMISS THE INDICTMENT WITHOUT PREJUDICE ──▶ the government may │ │ re-indict IF the limitations period has not run ◀── THE HINGE. │ │ "Without prejudice" is only a reprieve while the clock still has │ │ time on it; on a stale charge it is a dismissal with prejudice │ │ wearing a milder name. │ └─ ACCEPT RATIFICATION ──▶ an officer who IS validly serving adopts the │ earlier acts as her own. Courts have allowed this to cure a late or │ defective FILING — not to retroactively validate an invalid officer. └─ ──▶ appeal ──▶ court of appeals ──▶ petition for certiorari ──▶ SCOTUS [United States v. Jackson, No. 26-304, filed Sep 8, 2026: the Solicitor General asks the Court to read the FVRA more broadly, warning of disruption across U.S. attorney's offices] ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ THE 2025-26 RECORD — EVERY APPELLATE RULING ON ROUTE D HAS GONE AGAINST IT ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ DISTRICT OFFICIAL INSTRUMENT USED COURT & DATE RESULT ───────── ───────── ────────────────── ───────────────── ──────────── D.N.J. Habba FVRA first-assistant 3d Cir. unlawfully elevation Dec 1, 2025 serving [resigned Dec 8, 2025] E.D. Va. Halligan § 546 interim purport- E.D. Va. 2 indictments edly made after the Nov 24, 2025 DISMISSED 120-day reversion w/o prejudice [4th Cir. argued Sep 15, 2026; panel appeared skeptical of DOJ] D. Nev. Chattah FVRA first-assistant 9th Cir. (unanimous) not validly + wholesale § 509/510 Aug 18, 2026 serving delegation [cert. petition No. 26-304] N.D.N.Y. Sarcone § 515 special attorney 2d Cir. (2-1) not lawfully + first assistant, Aug 21, 2026 serving; after the board of subpoenas judges declined quashed § 546(d) [Park, J., dissenting] FOUR DISTRICTS · FOUR INSTRUMENTS · THREE CIRCUITS · ZERO WINS FOR THE THEORY. The common thread is not the Appointments Clause. It is that each workaround tried to get a SECOND temporary term out of statutes that issue only one. ``` ## Notes - **The 2007 amendment is the fact most summaries miss.** Section 546 has not always had a 120-day cap on the Attorney General's appointment. The 2006 USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act (Pub. L. 109-177, § 502) **deleted** the cap and the district-court backstop, letting an AG-appointed interim serve indefinitely. After the 2006–07 U.S. attorney firings scandal, Congress reversed itself in fifteen months: Pub. L. 110-34, enacted June 14, 2007, restored both the 120-day limit at § 546(c)(2) and the district court's appointment power at § 546(d). The provision at the center of the 2025–26 fight is therefore a **deliberate re-enactment**, passed specifically because an earlier administration had used an uncapped interim power — which is why the courts have read it as exclusive rather than as one option among several. - **The reversion is the design, not a gap in it.** Section 546(d) is one of very few places in federal law where an Article III court appoints an executive officer. It survived the *Morrison v. Olson* era intact and has never been squarely invalidated. Its practical effect is that a president who cannot get a nominee past the [[Blue Slip]] does not get to keep appointing his own temporary officers — after 120 days the choice belongs to the bench. - **The FVRA and § 546 run on separate clocks.** They are independent statutes and either or both may apply to the same vacancy: the § 546 clock runs 120 days from the **Attorney General's appointment**, while the FVRA clock at 5 U.S.C. § 3346 runs 210 days from the date **the vacancy occurred**. This is why a first-assistant designation made at day 118 buys far less time than it appears to — the FVRA clock has already been running since the seat emptied. - **What the circuits actually held, stated narrowly.** None of the three 2025–26 appellate rulings held that the [[Federal Vacancies Reform Act]] is unavailable for U.S. attorney vacancies. They held that the specific *sequence* used was not available: the FVRA elevates the person who was **already** the first assistant when the vacancy opened, and an Attorney General cannot manufacture an acting officer by installing a new first assistant afterward or by delegating the office's whole portfolio to one person. The Third Circuit decided [[Alina Habba]]'s case on FVRA grounds, not the [[Appointments Clause]]. - **"Dismissed without prejudice" is doing a lot of work.** Judge Cameron McGowan Currie's November 24, 2025 order dismissed the [[James Comey]] and [[Letitia James]] indictments without prejudice, which sounds survivable and often is not: re-indictment requires the limitations period still to have time on it. That is precisely what the Justice Department was arguing about at the Fourth Circuit on **September 15, 2026** — nearly ten months later, with the panel reported as skeptical. The remedy's label and the remedy's effect are different things, and this is the case that shows the gap. - **Officeholder verification, September 17, 2026.** [[Todd Blanche]] is Attorney General, confirmed 50–49 on August 8, 2026 after serving as *Acting* Attorney General from April 2, 2026. [[Pam Bondi]] was **fired on April 2, 2026** — every appointment and designation in the record table above was made under Bondi, not Blanche. [[D. John Sauer]] remains Solicitor General and is counsel of record on the pending certiorari petition. [[Chuck Grassley]] chairs the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] and has repeatedly threatened, without yet acting, to abandon the blue slip for U.S. attorney nominees. **No officeholder names appear inside the fence except in the dated record table**, where they are the subject rather than a currency-sensitive label. - **Unconfirmed and deliberately left open.** The composition of the Fourth Circuit panel that heard argument on September 15, 2026 is not established in the reporting reviewed and is recorded as unknown rather than guessed. Whether the Supreme Court will grant certiorari in **United States v. Jackson, No. 26-304** was undecided as of this writing; the docket number and September 8, 2026 filing date are confirmed, the outcome is not. The exact count of Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys seated in the 119th Congress varies by source and by whether recess and re-nominations are counted; the batch figures in the fence are the individually reported confirmation waves, not a running total. - **What this map does not cover.** The internal structure of a U.S. attorney's office (criminal and civil divisions, the first assistant, the appellate chief), the Executive Office for United States Attorneys that supervises all ninety-three, and the relationship between a U.S. attorney and Main Justice on a sensitive matter are all downstream of this map and are better read in [[DOJ Component Tree]] and [[How a Federal Prosecution Begins and Ends]]. ## See also - [[How a Federal Prosecution Begins and Ends]] — what this officer does once seated - [[How a Nominee Becomes a Federal Judge]] — the Article III track through the same blue slip - [[Special Counsel Appointment and Removal Flow]] — the office whose off-ramp lands here - [[Confirmation Pipeline]] — the general Senate route these three workarounds bypass - [[DOJ Component Tree]] · [[Department of Justice]] — the department these offices sit in - [[Federal Vacancies Reform Act]] — the statute Routes D1 and D3 were built on - [[Appointments Clause]] · [[Inferior Officer]] · [[Removal Power]] — the constitutional vocabulary - [[Blue Slip]] · [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] · [[Chuck Grassley]] — the confirmation chokepoint - [[Alina Habba]] · [[Lindsey Halligan]] · [[Sigal Chattah]] · [[John Sarcone]] — the four contested appointments - [[Erik Siebert]] — the confirmed U.S. attorney whose removal started the E.D. Va. sequence - [[James Comey]] · [[Letitia James]] — the defendants whose indictments the remedy reached - [[Pam Bondi]] · [[Todd Blanche]] · [[D. John Sauer]] — the officials who made and defend the designations - [[Unitary Executive Theory]] · [[Weaponization Working Group]] — the theory and the instrument - [[Grand Jury]] — the body whose subpoenas the challenge track quashes - [[Executive Branch Org Chart]] · [[Congressional Committees Tree]] — the sibling structural maps - [[Federal Agencies Hub]] — parent hub for the map series