On Friday, a federal court dealt a huge blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to weaponize the Department of Justice, ruling that a U.S. attorney who obtained grand jury subpoenas targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James had been illegally appointed. According to the 2nd Circuit Court’s opinion, “This case concerns whether John A. Sarcone III validly served as, and lawfully exercised the duties of, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.” In the court’s assessment, “We hold that he did not.”
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The case dates back to August 2025, when Trump loyalist Sarcone issued subpoenas to James’ office in an attempt to undermine civil lawsuits the latter filed against Trump, his family business, and the National Rifle Association. Both Trump and the NRA were found liable, but claimed they were being targeted politically. Sarcone’s subpoenas were part of an effort to bring charges against James, whom he accused of violating Trump and the NRA’s civil rights. His inquest ultimately failed to bring charges.
James filed suit questioning the validity of the subpoenas, which a lower court quashed, at the same time disqualifying Sarcone from future involvement with the investigation. The DOJ then appealed to a higher court, which sided 2-1 with the original determination.
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According to the new opinion, “We hold that Sarcone was not serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when he obtained the subpoenas” and that “the general delegation to Sarcone of all the duties of the U.S. Attorney’s office was an unlawful” use of authority. He therefore lacked the power to obtain subpoenas, so the court affirmed their quashing. What’s more, the court noted that the government’s appeal never offered an argument as to why the lower court erred in disqualifying Sarcone from future investigations, so that order was upheld as well. The majority judges were appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, while a third dissenting judge had been appointed by Trump.
The subpoenas have been part of Trump’s wide-ranging lawfare effort against James, who had indicted the president for fraud after it was found he had inflated the value of his properties. Trump was initially fined over $450 million, but the financial penalty was later thrown out on appeal. Since then, however, Trump has been vocal about his desire for revenge, declaring on the 2024 campaign trail that James should “be arrested and punished accordingly.” Once he returned to office, his DOJ indicted James under allegations of mortgage fraud. These charges were thrown out when a court found that the U.S. attorney leading the case had been – like Sarcone – illegally appointed.
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