SALT LAKE CITY — Melissa Holyoak has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Utah.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Holyoak to the position on Monday.

The previous U.S. attorney for Utah, Felice John Viti, was the acting U.S. attorney under the Vacancies Reform Act. He moved into the position after Trina A. Higgins resigned. Viti will now return to his role as the first assistant U.S. attorney, according to the attorney’s office.

As U.S. attorney, Holyoak will be Utah’s top federal law enforcement officer for the district of Utah. She will prosecute federal crimes, and defend the United States in civil lawsuits within that district.

Holyoak previously served Utah as solicitor general with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Bondi’s office said in an email. She oversaw civil and criminal appeals, constitutional defense, as well as antitrust and data privacy divisions among others.

According to a profile that ran Monday in the Deseret News, Holyoak is a “conservative who values the state’s role in a system that shares sovereignty with the federal government.”

Most recently, Holyoak served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

“Melissa is a woman of keen judgement, deep integrity, and unfailing commitment to the rule of law,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “… She will be sorely missed at the FTC. But our loss is Utah’s great gain.”

Holyoak graduated from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law in 2003. She is married and has four children.

She is a member of the Utah, Washington D.C. and Missouri bars.

Contributing: Mary Culbertson, KSL

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