MONTANA — It’s not unusual for U.S. Attorneys to resign or be terminated when a new President takes office. Jesse Laslovich, who served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana under President Joe Biden, was terminated two weeks ago, after being signed out of his work computer.
The U.S. Attorney oversees all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation on behalf of the U.S. government in Montana.
In the wake of Laslovich’s dismissal, Mr. Tim Racicot now sits as the acting U.S. Attorney for Montana, in an interim position.
Racicot is a career prosecutor who became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in October 2005. He has served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney since August 2022. Racicot received an undergraduate degree from Carroll College and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Racicot says this intermediate period of transition is completely normal and is controlled by a statute called the Vacancy Reform Act.
“That statute just says that essentially, the duties of the acting U.S. Attorney fall to the person who occupies the role of First Assistant U.S. Attorney, and that right now happens to be me,” says Racicot. “So I become the acting U.S. Attorney only until we get a new presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed U.S. Attorney.”
Racicot adds that the length of time it takes to Presidentially appoint a U.S. Attorney can vary greatly.
“It's been as early as the following September after the election, which will be this coming September, or as late as with Laslovich, which was June of 2022, after the November of 2020 election.”
Racicot says he expects a swath of nominations of President Trump’s selections to be forwarded at one time.
Trump’s choice for Montana will then need to be vetted and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
