John Sarcone's interim appointment as U.S. Attorney is on the line. A panel of federal judges will decide his fate soon. [Update: Assailant pleads guilty to charges.]
The judges are considering whether to reappoint the Croton attorney as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. His current appointment expires this month.
John Sarcone III.
If it seems that we have been covering Croton attorney John Sarcone III quite a bit lately, that’s because he has been in the news quite a bit lately. The first dramatic event was an alleged threatened knife attack on him by a Salvadoran national as he left a hotel in Albany; those charges have now been reduced from attempted murder to menacing.
Then, last week, Sarcone gave an interview to Law.com in which he told the legal publication that he was up for a federal judge appointment from President Donald Trump; Sarcone was reportedly being considered for such an appointment during Trump’s first term, but it did not come to pass.
However, Sarcone said in the interview that it might be months or even years before the appointment was made and confirmed by the Senate, so for now he was concentrating on his work with the U.S. Attorney’s office up north.
On Friday, a panel of federal judges in the Northern District met to consider whether Sarcone should stay in his current post. That’s because he has a 120 day interim appointment from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, which began on March 17 and should expire around July 15 if not renewed. Federal law allows interim appointees to serve for 120 days; if the president does not nominate Sarcone after that time—an appointment that would require confirmation by the U.S. Senate—federal judges in the U.S. District Court can appoint someone else to the post.
“I am confident that they will give me the vote of confidence I am seeking,” Sarcone told the Chronicle earlier this week.
However, it’s unlikely that Sarcone will be a shoe-in for the reappointment. Before being appointed by Bondi, he had no prosecutorial experience, although he has unsuccessfully sought public office several times. His most recent effort was a campaign for Westchester County District Attorney last November against Susan Cacace, who beat him by a margin of almost two to one.
It’s not totally surprising that Sarcone has failed to gain electoral traction in liberal Westchester County, given his well known conservative views and his long history of making sharp attacks on the Democratic Party. Just a month before the election for DA, he Tweeted that former President Barack Obama should be deported as an “illegal alien.” And back in 2022 he responded to another Tweet by declaring that President Joe Biden should be tried for treason. (In July of last year he Tweeted that Hilary Clinton should be tried for treason as well.)
Even Sarcone’s interim appointment in March has come under criticism from some legal scholars. “Putting in place acting officials is something Trump has done in the past to avoid the law,” David Driesen, a constitutional law professor at Syracuse University, told the local publication Syracuse.com. “This is a pretty militant appointment to take a guy with no prosecutorial experience, who has been a very partisan backer. It’s very concerning. I think the U.S. Attorney should have extensive criminal law experience.” (The link is unfortunately behind a paywall.)
Nevertheless, by all indications Sarcone has taken to the U.S. Attorney job with a great deal of energy. His office has been prosecuting high profile sex abuse cases, as well as a case in which a Florida man is accused of sending an envelope with white powder to New York State AG Letitia James. Sarcone, who has been very critical of James—including after he was appointed U.S. Attorney—nevertheless took the high road in his statement about the charges:
“No public servant, regardless of political affiliation, should be subjected to this kind of despicable, abhorrent conduct, which is clearly meant to intimidate and threaten public officials in the exercise of their official duties. Anyone engaging in this type of behavior – targeting New York State officials in Albany – should expect to be prosecuted in the Northern District of New York to the fullest extent of the law and no plea bargain will be offered for this conduct.”
We expect that the panel of federal judges will make its decision about reappointing Sarcone soon, and we will update this story when that news arrives.
Update July 3: Today the suspect in the threatened attack on John Sarcone, Saul Morales-Garcia, pleaded guilty to Menacing in the Second Degree, a Class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced by the judge in the case to 90 days in the Albany County Correctional Facility.
Sarcone told the Chronicle that he agreed with the sentence, but that after Morales-Garcia serves the 90 days he will be taken by Homeland Security officers to New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center to await trial on felony charges of illegally re-entering the United States after having been previously deported.
Meanwhile Sarcone has had no word yet from the judge’s panel about his reappointment as U.S. Attorney; we will update that story when news comes in.
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“He Tweeted that former President Barack Obama should be deported as an “illegal alien.” And back in 2022 he responded to another Tweet by declaring that President Joe Biden should be tried for treason. (In July of last year he Tweeted that Hilary Clinton should be tried for treason as well.)”
He sounds like a perfect fit to join this administration’s right wing extremist team.
Interesting from the perspective of the interim appointment coming to an end and what details are necessary in order for the next steps to take place. However, typically, a President nominates a candidate for US Attorney, and then the review process is undertaken by the Senate, first by the Judiciary Committee and then by the full Senate. Not sure why a "panel of judges will decide his fate soon," as this is a clear departure from the norm.
More interesting here is the inclusion of two tweets in the article that, while unsavory to some, clearly represent Mr. Sarcone's personal views, as he was not in any sort of government role at the time he posted. Locally, we have had more than just a few politicians who have tweeted, posted, or commented from what they call a "personal" perspective on various social media pages. These include several current and former school board members (who have raged against everything from conservatives, police officers, Christians, the unvaccinated, and even this very publication), who when confronted, not only justify it with "those are my personal views and I have a First Amendment right to express them," their supporters echo the same sentiments. So aside from party affiliation (Mr. Sarcone is a Republican, nominated by a very unpopular Republican President whereas the school board members mentioned are most likely Democrats expressing their "progressive" views in a very progressive locale), I'm really not sure why there is controversy and an inherent "this is bad" when one person posts potentially unsavory things on social media while it's acceptable for others to engage in the exact same behavior. Let's be consistent, here, shall we?