Rhode Island Court Skips Naming Prosecutor, Dodges DOJ Fight (1)

Federal judges in Rhode Island declined to appoint a US prosecutor in their district, avoiding a showdown with the Justice Department after the Trump administration swiftly fired other court appointees.

Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. on Wednesday announced the court wouldn’t use its authority to fill a vacancy atop the US attorney’s office in Rhode Island. Charles Calenda, who’s led the office on an acting basis since December, will stay on with a new title.

The court “concluded that, to continue the uninterrupted and orderly operation of the federal criminal justice system in Rhode Island, and to ensure the non-political professional operation of the U.S. Attorney’s office, at this time it will not exercise its option to make such an appointment,” McConnell wrote Wednesday in an order.

Calenda announced Wednesday that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had named him special attorney and first assistant US attorney, keeping him in charge of the Rhode Island office.

“While my title may have changed, my goals and the mission of this Office have not,” Calenda said in a statement Wednesday.

Federal courts in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Northern District of New York appointed interim US attorneys earlier this year only to see their selections promptly fired by the White House.

Blanche has previously complained about courts getting involved in the process, posting on X that “judges don’t pick U.S. attorneys.” Republicans in Congress are pushing legislation to remove federal courts’ authority to appoint prosecutors.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reviews US attorney nominations, criticized DOJ’s maneuver to keep Calenda in charge of the Rhode Island office.

“The Trump administration is plainly attempting an end run around the law, which requires this vacancy to be filled by a Senate-confirmed nominee,” he said in a statement. “We have provided candidates to the administration who would receive bipartisan support in the Senate and will continue to work to get a qualified non-MAGA candidate into this key law enforcement position.”

McConnell noted in Wednesday’s order that the court may reconsider its decision to forego making its own appointment “at any time should circumstances that underpin these values warrant.”