Judges appoint new Conn. U.S. Attorney, avoiding potential political battle

Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant on Sep 8, 2025

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Connecticut’s federal judges voted on Monday to name former assistant federal prosecutor and Republican Congressional candidate David X. Sullivan as U.S. Attorney, sparing the state the prospect of legal and political contortions occurring elsewhere in the country where Democrats are blocking Trump administration appointments.

Sullivan, 65, of New Fairfield has been serving a 120-day appointment as interim U.S. Attorney since May. With the interim appointment scheduled to expire at midnight Monday, the state’s U.S. District Judges exercised their authority to make Sullivan U.S. Attorney, according to Chief District Judge Michael P. Shea.

“I sincerely thank Chief Judge Shea and the District Court judges for allowing me to continue in my role as United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut,” Sullivan said. “I am honored that they, President Trump, and Attorney General Bondi have placed their trust in me to serve our country and the people of Connecticut alongside the hard-working men and women of the office, and federal, state, and local law enforcement.”

Typically, U.S. Attorneys — the top federal law enforcement officers in states — are nominated by the president and take office upon confirmation by the U.S. Senate. With Senate Democrats threatening to deny confirmation to President Donald J. Trump’s nominees, the administration has been making interim appointments.

But even interim appointments, such as Trump’s effort to install personal lawyer Alina Habba as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, have proven a challenge for the administration.

When Habba’s interim appointment expired, the New Jersey judges named another lawyer U.S. Attorney there. The administration fired that lawyer and was later rebuffed by a federal court in Pennsylvania when it tried to reinstall Habba.

Similar nomination fights are shaping up elsewhere. Connecticut’s two U.S. Senators, Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, are Trump opponents and have the power under Senate rules to block Sullivan from getting a nomination hearing.

Unlike Trump’s disputed, interim appointment in places such as New Jersey and the north district of New York, the Connecticut judges know Sullivan, having worked with him for years.

Most recently, Sullivan practiced law in Hartford with the national law firm McCarter and English. Earlier, he worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut for 30 years, leaving the office to run unsuccessfully in 2020 for the U.S. House of Representatives from the state’s fifth district.

People who know Sullivan described him as a conservative Republican who does not necessarily share Trump’s political or administrative views.

Colleagues said that as an Assistant U.S. Attorney Sullivan focused mostly on civil matters including money laundering, asset forfeiture, and tax matters. He defended the United States from claims involving employment discrimination, and civil rights. He also ran the office’s asset forfeiture unit.

He obtained undergraduate and law degrees from The Catholic University of America and an advanced degree in taxation from the Quinnipiac University School of Law.

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