Sacramento US Attorney Eric Grant’s interim term extended by court
Eric Grant’s tenure as the interim U.S. Attorney for the federal district that includes Sacramento and most of inland California was extended beyond its initial 120-day run on Tuesday, when he was sworn in as the region’s court-appointed top prosecutor.
Grant, who has been leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California since August, was elected by the judges who serve in the district to serve until President Donald Trump formally names him or another nominee to the post. The president’s nominee will also have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
He previously served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the first Trump administration, working mostly on issues related to energy and the environment. He also worked in the private sector, in part for corporate clients in the energy and environment sectors.
Since taking the helm of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, Grant has filed 93 cases, including last month’s corruption charges involving two prominent lobbyists and the former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom. In an interview with The Bee published Oct. 3, Grant said he planned to bring a heightened focus to immigration cases and other issues of priority to the Trump administration.
The move to keep Grant in place reflects the long-standing practice of federal judges extending the appointments of interim U.S. attorneys when a White House nomination has not been finalized. But the stability in Sacramento contrasts with a series of fraught appointments elsewhere, where federal judges and defense attorneys have challenged the legality of the Trump administration’s maneuvers to retain acting U.S. attorneys beyond their statutory terms.
In Los Angeles’ Central District, a federal judge has been weighing since October whether Bill Essayli was improperly kept in office after the Trump administration shifted the former assemblymember’s title to “acting” to bypass confirmation, prompting defense motions to dismiss indictments and disqualify him from supervising cases.
Courts in New Jersey and Nevada have similarly ruled that top federal prosecutors — including Trump ally Alina Habba, who stepped down Monday — were not lawfully serving, orders that have disrupted proceedings and forced the Justice Department to reshuffle oversight of active cases.
The Eastern District of California stretches from Bakersfield to the Oregon border and includes the Central Valley and Yosemite.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
