He lasted less than an hour in the job the first time. On Thursday, a federal judge put him right back in it — and told the Trump administration it can't do what it did again.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian granted a preliminary injunction reinstating Roger Rogoff, a veteran King County judge and prosecutor, as the court-appointed U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, according to KUOW's report on the ruling. The order bars the Justice Department from firing Rogoff, locking him out of the office, or recognizing anyone else as the district's chief federal prosecutor — at least until the case plays out.

The backstory sounds almost like a bureaucratic prank gone wrong. Western Washington's federal judges unanimously appointed Rogoff on July 15 after the White House went more than 120 days without sending the Senate a nominee — a gap that, under federal law, hands appointment power to the district court. Rogoff was sworn in before 8 a.m. By the time he'd made it to the lobby of the federal courthouse, an email from the Trump administration was waiting, removing him from the post he'd held for roughly 54 minutes.

"Why Have The Statute?"

Rogoff sued, arguing the firing violated both the Constitution's Appointments Clause and the statute that put him in the job in the first place. At Thursday's hearing, Bloomberg Law's courtroom account describes Bastian cutting off a Justice Department attorney who argued the president's removal power is effectively unlimited, demanding: "Why have the statute?" if a president can simply undo a court appointment on a whim.

"ALLOWING THE PRESIDENT TO FIRE A UNITED STATES ATTORNEY APPOINTED BY THE DISTRICT COURT WOULD UPEND THE FRAMEWORK" established by the Constitution and federal law.

Bastian, an Obama appointee confirmed 95-0 by the Senate, found Rogoff was likely to win his case outright and declined to pause the order while the Trump administration appeals. Rogoff's attorney, Hailyn Chen of Munger, Tolles & Olson, called the Appointments Clause a "guardrail against executive cronyism." A Justice Department spokesperson didn't back down either, telling reporters: "We disagree with the decision and intend to seek an immediate stay and will appeal."

The fight is bigger than one prosecutor's job. The Trump administration has repeatedly sidestepped Senate confirmation for U.S. attorney picks in Democratic-leaning districts by cycling through "acting" and "first assistant" designations — in Seattle's case installing Charles Neil Floyd as acting U.S. attorney in September while nominee Pete Serrano, opposed by Sen. Patty Murray, awaits a confirmation vote that may never come. Former U.S. Attorney John McKay, who was himself fired by the George W. Bush administration in 2006 amid accusations of political retaliation, praised the ruling as a way of holding "the president to account" and blocking the installation of "loyalists without Senate confirmation."

Rogoff declined to speak to reporters after the hearing and headed straight back to his old desk at the federal courthouse. For now, he runs the office. What happens next is up to a higher court: the Justice Department says an emergency stay request and a full appeal are coming, setting the stage for appellate judges — and possibly the Supreme Court — to decide just how far a president's firing power really reaches.