A federal appeals court has permanently barred President Donald Trump's chief prosecutor in New York from any further role in investigations targeting the state attorney general who defeated him in court, ruling that his appointment to the post was "unlawful."

In a 2-1 decision issued Friday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that John A. Sarcone III, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, was never lawfully installed in his position.

The order blocks Sarcone from both matters brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James that Trump has sought to reverse through the Justice Department: the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization and a separate case against the National Rifle Association, which produced a February 2024 jury verdict finding the gun group's longtime chief Wayne LaPierre liable for misspending millions.

"We further hold that the general delegation to Sarcone of all the duties of the U.S. Attorney's office was an unlawful use of general delegation authority to circumvent the FVRA's exclusivity provision," the ruling said.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act, or FVRA, sets the rules for who may legally fill a vacant federal prosecutor's seat. Under the 1998 statute, a president may temporarily install only the office's first assistant, another official already confirmed by the Senate, or a senior agency employee who has served at least 90 of the preceding 365 days, and only for a time-limited stretch that can be extended while a nomination is pending.

"Because Sarcone lacked authority to obtain the subpoenas on either theory, we AFFIRM the district court's order quashing them," the court added.

The disqualification is permanent: "And because the government on appeal did not provide any argument as to why the district court erred in disqualifying Sarcone from future involvement in the underlying investigations," the ruling said, the government never contested the point on appeal and forfeited any challenge to the ban. Because Friday's decision came from a three-judge panel, the Justice Department retains the option of seeking rehearing by the full Second Circuit or review by the Supreme Court.

Sarcone's pursuit of James fit squarely within the retribution campaign Trump promised supporters while running for office. "I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution," Trump told supporters at CPAC in 2023.

James had previously won a civil fraud judgment against Trump, with a court finding in 2023 that he inflated his assets by as much as $2.2 billion a year, NPR reported. The judgment entered in February 2024 ordered Trump and his companies to pay roughly $454 million and remains on appeal.

The Justice Department subpoenaed James's office in August 2025, seeking her files on both the Trump fraud and NRA cases, and then indicted her on mortgage fraud charges in October — but a judge threw out that case after finding that the prosecutor who brought it was also unlawfully appointed, according to published reports.

"Promises made, Promises kept," Ed Martin, the DOJ's weaponization chief — previously the interim U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., until his nomination was withdrawn in May 2025 — posted on social media after the indictment.

Circuit Judge Park dissented, arguing that the majority "makes up" an incumbency requirement the statute does not contain, and that a third trigger in the law "describes a state that may be continuing and may or may not be permanent."