'His impartiality might reasonably be questioned': Trump wants 9th Circuit to assign a new judge in lawsuit over fired US attorney in Washington

The Trump administration is asking a federal court of appeals to intervene in litigation over a recently fired federal prosecutor and replace the judge who was assigned to the case.

In little more than a week, the docket has swelled in the lawsuit filed by Roger Rogoff, the man who, for several minutes, was in charge of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington.

Earlier this month, a panel of district court judges in the Evergreen State unanimously appointed Rogoff to lead the office. The jurists chose the longtime Seattle prosecutor to fill a vacancy that the 45th and 47th president had never addressed. In less than an hour, however, Trump sent an email and axed the judges' choice.

Now, the Trump administration is seeking another judicial do-over – this time over which district judge will oversee the matter.

At present, the case is assigned to District Judge Stanley A. Bastian, a Barack Obama appointee who serves as both the chief judge of the Eastern District of Washington and the Western District's only current "visiting judge" — a judge who helps with increased caseloads and the exchange of ideas. In the parlance of the federal system, such judges sit and hear cases "by designation and assignment."

But the case was not originally in Bastian's court.

Rather, the assignment mechanism used by the Western District of Washington — the clerk randomly assigns each case a district judge and magistrate judge — initially put the case on the shoulders of District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, a George W. Bush appointee.

The day after Rogoff filed his original petition, however, Martinez took himself off the case and directly assigned it to Bastian.

Trump says that process should be a nonstarter.

"Defendants respectfully suggest that Judge Martinez erred in participating in the case's reassignment," a Tuesday filing reads.

Under 9th Circuit case law, a judicial recusal "must be from a whole proceeding," the president's motion argues, citing precedent.

In other words, Trump says Martinez should not have played any role in how the Rogoff case's successor judge was chosen because it might arouse "suspicion" that the disqualified judge chose "a successor whose views are consonant with his," again citing precedent – but this time from various circuits.

"The Court's reassignment of this case is counter to the rule against a recused judge's participation in the choice of a replacement judge," the Trump administration's motion reads.

Martinez, for his part, chose Bastian because he wanted the case to be heard by "a judge from outside this district," saying as much in his own recusal announcement.

The government says that excuse is incongruous with how Bastian was actually assigned to the case.

"[I]nstead of referring the case to the Ninth Circuit's Chief Judge for a reassignment decision independent of the recused judges, Judge Martinez chose to cite a 2025 order authorizing a specific judge to hear cases within this judicial district," the motion goes on. "Through that citation, Judge Martinez chose the judge who would hear the case."

Put another way, Trump is complaining that Martinez cited an order about transferring a case to a judge within the district while insisting he was trying to get the case to a judge from outside the district.

Moreover, Trump says the judge's behavior does not align with how similar case reassignments have been handled in the 9th Circuit.

"Judge Martinez's personal handling of the reassignment distinguishes this case from the process used to assign each of the other cases within this Circuit challenging the leadership of a U.S. Attorney's office," the motion continues.

Trump's preferred process — explained by way of an example — is for the 9th Circuit's chief judge to choose the replacement judge.

"By contrast, in this case, the Ninth Circuit's chief judge never entered an order on this case's docket," the Tuesday motion goes on.

As a tertiary argument, Trump singles out Martinez for potentially bad behavior due to his role in appointing Rogoff as U.S. attorney.

"Judge Martinez acted appropriately in recusing from the case," the motion continues. "'[H]is impartiality might reasonably be questioned' because of his service on the District Court that appointed the plaintiff. So too with his apparent participation in the plaintiff's selection."

The motion argues that "an objective observer might reasonably doubt Judge Martinez's impartiality in deciding the merits of the lawsuit brought by the District Court's appointee" as well as his "ability to fairly handle" the reassignment process.

To that end, Trump says Bastian should recuse himself from the case — even if Martinez did nothing wrong.

"Defendants respectfully suggest that the Court refer the case to the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit for reassignment," the motion summarizes. "The need to protect the appearance of impartiality is especially important given the significant separation of powers questions raised by the plaintiff's complaint."