The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ignited a high-stakes constitutional confrontation on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, after moving to terminate the freshly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. The firing occurred just hours after a board of federal judges utilized a rare statutory authority to install veteran prosecutor Donald Kinsella as the district’s top law enforcement officer. The judicial appointment followed a January ruling by U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, which found that the Trump administration’s previous pick, John Sarcone, had been serving unlawfully. The court determined that the DOJ had utilized “unlawful workarounds” to keep Sarcone in power after his legal interim tenure expired, specifically to oversee sensitive investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, a prominent political antagonist of President Trump.
In a formal ceremony on Wednesday, the Northern District Board of Judges appointed Donald Kinsella to fill the vacancy. Kinsella, a highly regarded former Assistant U.S. Attorney and criminal chief with decades of litigation experience, was selected to restore institutional stability to an office that judges described as being mired in “political maneuvering.” However, the administration’s response was immediate and public. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took to social media to announce Kinsella’s dismissal, writing on X:
“You are fired, Donald Kinsella. Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does.”
The standoff in Albany is the latest in a series of legal defeats for the administration. Federal courts in New Jersey, Nevada, and California have similarly rejected “loyalist” appointments that bypassed the constitutionally mandated Senate confirmation process. Rights experts and legal scholars have intensified their criticism of the administration, accusing the White House of weaponizing the Justice Department to settle political scores. Attorney General Letitia James has characterized the federal probes into her real estate transactions as “payback” for her successful civil fraud litigation against the Trump Organization.
Despite the White House’s “firing” of Kinsella, legal analysts suggest the move may be legally void. Under 28 U.S. Code § 546(d), once a court appoints a U.S. Attorney to fill a vacancy, that individual typically serves until a successor is officially confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As of Thursday morning, the DOJ website still listed the disqualified John Sarcone as “First Assistant U.S. Attorney,” while the Board of Judges is expected to convene an emergency session to determine if they will challenge Kinsella’s ouster in court. This escalating battle serves as a stark reminder of the fragile boundary between executive power and judicial independence in the current American political landscape
