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OAKLAND — United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Brian Stretch, is stepping down from his position in just two days to join a private firm, his office announced Thursday.

Stretch, who was appointed to the position in March 2016, will have his last day on Saturday. As of Sunday, there will be a new person exercising powers of the US Attorney in the northern district, said spokesman Abraham Simmons.

The Northern District US Attorney holds the power to file federal criminal charges — which typically carry much harsher penalties than equivalent state charges in California — in a roughly 20,000 square-mile section of the state. It includes the entire Bay Area, the northern counties of Humboldt, Mendocino, and Del Norte, and it stretches as far south as Monterey.

It’s not clear who Stretch’s replacement will be, but US attorneys can be replaced by the Trump administration. The Department of Justice has a process that it will undergo in order to determine his replacement, Simmons said.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions can appoint an interim US Attorney to the Northern District, as he has done with 17 others recently appointed. However, the interim positions are only temporary. Stretch was appointed by the district court back in March 2016. It’s up the district court to appoint a permanent position, unless and until there’s a confirmation by the Senate.

The sudden announcement comes on the heels of Sessions announcing a major change to cannabis policy at the federal level. Earlier Thursday, Sessions said that he was rescinding the Cole Memo, an Obama-era rule that essentially discouraged federal prosecution of marijuana laws, and would encourage U.S. Attorneys to exercise their own discretion in prosecuting cannabis cases.

During Stretch’s tenure, federal charges were rare but not unheard of. In 2016, his office filed federal drug trafficking charges against a suspected large-scale trafficking ring that was connected to a homicide in Mexico and last year, charged a New Orleans man with marijuana trafficking before securing a conspiracy to commit murder indictment months later.

Stretch is leaving his position to join the private firm, Sidley Austin LLP in San Francisco, as a partner in its white-collar, government litigation and investigations practice, according to Business Wire. His practice will focus on federal enforcement and internal investigation matters.

Prior to his current position as US Attorney, he served as the First Assistant United States Attorney. He was the First Assistant from 2010 until becoming Acting U.S. Attorney in 2015 and then being promoted to US Attorney, according to the Department of Justice. Prior to his service as First Assistant, he was the Chief of the Criminal Division from August 2007 to October 2010.