A Virginia federal judge ordered Lindsey Halligan on Tuesday to explain in writing why she continues to refer to herself as US Attorney for the commonwealth’s Eastern District, despite another judge ruling in November that she had been unlawfully appointed to that post.
US District Judge David Novak, nominated to the federal bench by President Trump in 2019, gave Halligan seven days to respond to his order, including “why her identification does not constitute a false or misleading statement.”
Novak’s order came 43 days after senior US District Judge Cameron Currie dismissed criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, finding that Halligan had “had no lawful authority” to secure indictments of either of President Trump’s longtime adversaries.
Attorneys for both Comey and James had argued that Halligan had to be confirmed by the Senate after Attorney General Pam Bondi used up her allotted 120-day interim appointment on Erik Siebert, who resigned Sept. 19 after Trump publicly criticized him for not bringing charges against the former head of the FBI.
After Siebert’s departure, Comey’s attorneys argued, the Eastern District’s judges should have had exclusive say over who got to fill the vacancy.
Instead, Trump nominated Halligan, a former Colorado beauty queen and onetime Florida insurance lawyer, while publicly imploring Bondi in a social media post to take action against Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Currie’s ruling did not expressly order Halligan removed from office, and the Justice Department has appealed it.
However, Novak wrote that “no stay has been issued in conjunction with that appeal,” meaning that Currie’s finding “remains the binding precedent in this district and is not subject to being ignored.”
The judge noted that his order to Halligan was issued by his “own initiative” rather than at the request of any defendant, in an unusual move.
Novak, based in Richmond, is overseeing a federal carjacking and attempted bank robbery case. An indictment of the suspect, Davante Jefferson, was handed up Dec. 2 and describes Halligan as “United States Attorney and Special Attorney.”
