DOJ says Halligan is still a US attorney, despite a judge disqualifying her [View all]

Source: Politico

The Trump administration told a federal judge on Tuesday that attorney Lindsey Halligan remains the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, despite a recent court ruling that disqualified her.

The Justice Department laid out its position in an unusually fiery filing before U.S. District Judge David Novak, who ordered officials earlier this month to explain why Halligan continues to act and to identify herself in court papers as the U.S. attorney for the district.

U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie held in November that Halligan was unlawfully appointed to the post and dismissed cases she had brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.

In a response to Novak signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Halligan herself, the Justice Department said Currie’s ruling only applied to the James and Comey cases. Their filing directly questioned both Novak and Currie’s judgment, adding that the courts lack authority to strike the title of “United States Attorney” from Halligan’s name in court filings.

“To answer the Court’s inquisition directly: ‘the basis for Ms. Halligan’s identification of herself as the United States Attorney, notwithstanding Judge Currie’s contrary ruling’ is that, in the Government’s view, Ms. Halligan is the United States Attorney,” the Justice Department wrote. “Judge Currie’s ruling did not and could not require the United States to acquiesce to her contrary (and erroneous) legal reasoning outside of those cases.”

Currie’s November ruling held that Halligan’s appointment violated the Constitution’s appointments clause; invalidated all actions flowing from the defective appointment; and held that the power to appoint a top prosecutor to replace Halligan “lies with the district court until” the Senate confirms a nominee.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/13/lindsey-halligan-us-attorney-doj-00726362?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter