A federal judge ordered Lindsey Halligan on Tuesday to explain why she is still calling herself the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a November ruling that she was unlawfully appointed.
U.S. District Judge David Novak, a Trump appointee, gave Halligan seven days to explain herself, and invoked an attorney’s obligation to not make untruthful or misleading statements. Doing so, he warned, constitutes misconduct and could be grounds for discipline.
Novak said the ruling that her appointment is unlawful is “binding precedent in this district and is not subject to being ignored.”
The Department of Justice on Tuesday did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment on the order.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled in November that Halligan was unlawfully appointed as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. That resulted in the dismissals of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two foes of President Donald Trump.
Novak — who issued Tuesday’s order unprompted, a rare move for a federal judge — noted that while the government has appealed Currie’s ruling, it is still in effect.
The White House has also started the process of seeking standard Senate confirmation for Halligan, which ultimately could render Currie’s ruling moot before the appeal is resolved. Halligan’s prospects for confirmation aren’t clear, however.
Halligan, a former personal attorney for Trump with no prosecutorial experience, was appointed days before the grand jury handed up the indictments, made at Trump’s direction and despite objections from career prosecutors.
In a departure from standard Justice Department practice, she presented the case to the grand jury on her own. The government later acknowledged Halligan’s significant procedural error: The full grand jury that charged Comey never saw the version of the indictment Halligan signed and submitted to the judge.
Lisa Rubin contributed to this report.
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