MIAMI — Former Miami-Dade County Judge Jason A. Reding Quiñones was sworn in Wednesday as the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

But the afternoon ceremony making his appointment by President Donald Trump official didn’t happen in the district’s home base, Miami, according to tradition. Nor was he sworn in by the district’s chief judge, which has been customary for decades.

Reding Quiñones was administered the oath of office by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department in Washington — indicating that the nation’s first top federal prosecutor confirmed by the Senate earlier this month will be an ardent loyalist as the Trump administration carries out its agenda against illegal immigrants, gangs and drug traffickers.

Departure from judge swearing him in

“I think it’s unusual, if not rare — in the old days, the chief judge would swear in the U.S. attorney,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who carefully follows presidential nominations. “I’m wondering how the judges in the Southern District will feel about this. It seems like an unnecessary affront to them.”

Tobias said the symbolism of Reding Quiñones’ being sworn in by Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, is unmistakable, noting how she has aggressively led the Trump administration’s confrontations with federal judges over immigration disputes, higher tariffs and government cutbacks.

There has also been widespread speculation that Bondi might move a potential grand jury investigation from Washington to South Florida to look into the Obama administration’s role in the FBI probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which brought the Trump campaign under intense scrutiny.

“I wondered at first why he would be the first U.S. attorney to be confirmed by the Senate; it didn’t make sense,” Tobias said. “But I now think it does make sense, making Florida first.”

On Aug. 2, Reding Quiñones secured a 52-44 confirmation vote along party lines in the U.S. Senate — Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin was the only Democrat to vote for him. Reding Quiñones, 44, will now head the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, replacing interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne, as he oversees about 250 prosecutors and support staff in one of the busiest districts in the country.

“As the son of a Cuban political refugee and a proud Miami native, I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence that President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, and the United States Senate have placed in me,” Reding Quiñones said in a statement.

“As the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, I will work tirelessly to protect the American people, restore impartial justice, and defend the rule of law without fear or favor.”

Several colleagues touted Reding Quiñones as the new U.S. attorney, while others privately questioned whether his loyalties would be to Trump and Bondi or to the federal prosecutors in South Florida.

First U.S. attorney confirmed by Senate

“I think it’s very special that Judge Reding Quiñones was the first U.S. attorney confirmed by U.S. Senate since President Trump was inaugurated,” said Coral Gables lawyer Jesus Suarez, chairman of the 11th Judicial Nominating Commission in Miami-Dade, which had recommended him as a county judge to Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I’m confident he will bring the same kind of fearless respect for the rule of law we have seen from AG Pam Bondi and the rest of President Trump’s DOJ,” he said.

Jon Sale, a prominent white-collar defense attorney and the former First Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, said: “That AG Bondi performed the swearing in personally demonstrates that Jason is held in high esteem by the Department of Justice.

“As a result of the confidence shown by AG Bondi, the district will benefit from getting more high-visibility cases,” he said. “Jason’s many years in public service, including his time on the bench and protecting our country in the military, show he is up for the challenges of this position and qualifies him to be an excellent U.S. attorney.”

Who is Jason A. Reding Quiñones?

Reding Quiñones, formerly a federal prosecutor in the Miami office, was appointed as a Miami-Dade County judge last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis and is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

After graduating from Florida International University’s law school in 2008, he began his career practicing corporate law and then did a stint as military lawyer for the U.S. Air Force before joining the Justice Department in Washington in 2018. Later that year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami hired Reding Quiñones as a prosecutor in the major crimes section, the starting place for most newly hired assistants.

During his four years in the major crimes section, which focuses on lower-level felony cases, Reding Quiñones received poor evaluations from supervisors who cited his incompetence, the Miami Herald learned.

In turn, Reding Quiñones filed a complaint against the U.S. Attorney’s Office, claiming it was discriminating against him as a white man whose temporary work as an Air Force reservist prevented him from performing at the same full-time level as other federal prosecutors in the major crimes section.

Reding Quiñones then took an extended leave from the office in 2020-2021 to serve in the Air Force Reserve. When he returned to his prosecutor’s job, Reding dropped his discrimination complaint and agreed to be reassigned to the civil division, which deals mostly with non-criminal prosecutions. In the civil division, Reding Quiñones received satisfactory job evaluations.

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