Third Circuit upholds the lower-court ruling that the President's former personal lawyer is unlawfully serving as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

OK. Listen closely. I want to walk you through what the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, on a Monday afternoon in December, in a thirty-two-page opinion, said about the federal-prosecutor-of-New-Jersey situation.

The President’s former personal lawyer, the lady who represented him in the New York civil cases, took over the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark in March. The Senate, the Senate, declined to advance her nomination. So the administration ran a series of moves. First, interim appointment. Then, when the interim period ran out and the district judges did not extend her, the district judges picked someone else. The administration fired the someone-else. Then they re-installed the lady, this time as acting. Then they made her first assistant. Then they used the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to roll her right back into the chair.

Buddy. That is six dance steps to get to the same chair.

The Third Circuit, on Monday, said the dance does not work. Judge Fisher, in the opinion, said the maneuver violates the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act is, in plain English, the Congress saying: the President picks, the Senate confirms, and if the Senate does not confirm, you do not get to keep the chair by using a thesaurus.

This is the first appeals-court ruling against the administration in this category. In this category. Other appeals courts, in other categories, are watching this one. They will cite this one. That is how this works.

I have run a casino floor for thirty years. When the dealer is not Senate-approved, you do not call her the acting dealer. You do not call her the first assistant dealer. You go find a dealer.

The administration’s response, on Monday night, was to attack the panel and announce they would appeal. Fine. Appeal. The chair is, as of this morning, empty in the eyes of the Third Circuit, which is the highest court that has ruled on it.

I am arguing with the television. The television, this morning, is in Philadelphia.