U.S. Attorney Eric Grant, DOJ photo

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, which includes Fresno, announced that Eric Grant was sworn in Monday as the interim U.S. attorney by Chief United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Grant to the position effective Monday, Aug. 11. He is a veteran of the Department of Justice, having served twice in Washington, D.C.: from 1991 to 1993 as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel, and from 2017 to 2021 as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). 

During his tenure at ENRD, Grant supervised more than a hundred department litigators advancing the interests of the United States and its agencies in both enforcement and defensive matters, both civil and criminal, according to a news release.

Grant replaces Fresno federal prosecutor Kimberly Sanchez, a Republican who was appointed acting U.S. attorney on July 16. Sanchez replaced Kim Beckwith, a Democrat, after she was fired by President Trump. Beckwith stepped into the role after U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert resigned in January after 2 ½ years in the position.

“I am honored to rejoin the Department of Justice to lead an excellent team of lawyers and other public servants in our shared mission to enhance public safety and the rule of law in Northern California. I look forward to working with that team and with our federal, state, local, and tribal partners in law enforcement and otherwise to accomplish that mission,” U.S. Attorney Grant said in a statement.

In addition to his service in the Department of Justice, Grant has decades of experience in private practice in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento. That experience includes arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court and numerous other federal and state courts.

Grant served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger (retired) and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term. Before that he served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas.

Grant grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics (1986) and a law degree (1990).

The U.S. attorney serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of California and is responsible for prosecuting federal criminal cases and representing the United States in civil litigation. The Eastern District encompasses 34 counties throughout the Central Valley and the Sierra, from the Oregon border in the north to the Los Angeles County line in the south. The office has 72 attorneys and 61 non-attorney staff with offices in Sacramento, Fresno and Bakersfield.