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Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
Brendan Nyhan
@brendannyhan.bsky.social
The open disregard for judicial decisions and orders is being normalized more every day
Joe Dudek
@joedudekjd.bsky.social
· 22h
We know you said we're behaving illegally, but you didn't tell us to stop, so ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/politics/halligan-us-attorney-judiciary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.yooD.-QaRF2Jkm4GR&smid=url-share
Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
www.nytimes.com
Dec 5, 2025, 10:50 PM
@brendannyhan.bsky.social
The open disregard for judicial decisions and orders is being normalized more every day
Joe Dudek
@joedudekjd.bsky.social
· 22h
We know you said we're behaving illegally, but you didn't tell us to stop, so ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/politics/halligan-us-attorney-judiciary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.yooD.-QaRF2Jkm4GR&smid=url-share
Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
www.nytimes.com
Dec 5, 2025, 10:50 PM
The open disregard for judicial decisions and orders is being normalized more every day
— Brendan Nyhan (@brendannyhan.bsky.social) 2025-12-06T03:50:35.049Z
Joe Dudek
@joedudekjd.bsky.social
We know you said we're behaving illegally, but you didn't tell us to stop, so ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/politics/halligan-us-attorney-judiciary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.yooD.-QaRF2Jkm4GR&smid=url-share
Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
www.nytimes.com
Dec 5, 2025, 1:59 PM
@joedudekjd.bsky.social
We know you said we're behaving illegally, but you didn't tell us to stop, so ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/politics/halligan-us-attorney-judiciary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.yooD.-QaRF2Jkm4GR&smid=url-share
Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
www.nytimes.com
Dec 5, 2025, 1:59 PM
We know you said we're behaving illegally, but you didn't tell us to stop, so ...
— Joe Dudek (@joedudekjd.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T18:59:32.319Z
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/u...
Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney, Prompting Criticism From Judges
The Justice Department has seized on a lack of explicit instruction from a federal judge to keep Lindsey Halligan in place for now.
The name of Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, was removed from a court filing by a judge this week who also questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold her job as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Al Drago/Bloomberg
By Devlin Barrett and Jonah E. Bromwich
Devlin Barrett reported from Washington, and Jonah E. Bromwich from New York.
Dec. 5, 2025
The legal decision that ended the criminal cases against the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, has left the leadership of a key U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia in limbo, leading to frustration among judges in the state. ... A federal judge ruled last week that the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, had been unlawfully appointed as the U.S. attorney by the Trump administration. As a result, the judge ordered the dismissal of the high-profile indictments against Mr. Comey and Ms. James.
But while that decision, by Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who was brought in from a district in South Carolina to handle the question, found Ms. Halligan’s appointment invalid, it did not expressly order her removed from the office. ... The Justice Department has seized on the lack of explicit instruction to keep Ms. Halligan in place for now, eliciting the judges’ irritation. On Thursday morning, one judge removed Ms. Halligan’s name from a court filing and questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold the job. Days earlier, a magistrate judge hearing a different case had raised similar concerns, according to people familiar with the exchange.
It is the latest clash between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary over the proper way to appoint U.S. attorneys. The Justice Department has used unusual maneuvers to keep its preferred U.S. attorneys in place in districts across the country, including in New Jersey, Nevada and California, over the objections of federal judges there and without the Senate approval typically required of such positions.
At a hearing in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday before Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, involving an immigrant accused of illegally re-entering the country, prosecutors struggled to explain why Ms. Halligan remained listed as the U.S. attorney on court filings. ... The defense lawyer at the hearing asked that Ms. Halligan’s name be removed and Judge Nachmanoff, who oversaw the case against Mr. Comey before its dismissal, agreed that there appeared to be a problem. ... Judge Nachmanoff told prosecutors that he found it “difficult to reconcile” the fact that Ms. Halligan continued to oversee cases in the district with Judge Currie’s ruling, which “clearly found that Ms. Halligan is disqualified as serving as the interim U.S. attorney or the U.S. attorney at all.”
{snip}
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.
The Justice Department has seized on a lack of explicit instruction from a federal judge to keep Lindsey Halligan in place for now.
The name of Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, was removed from a court filing by a judge this week who also questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold her job as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Al Drago/Bloomberg
By Devlin Barrett and Jonah E. Bromwich
Devlin Barrett reported from Washington, and Jonah E. Bromwich from New York.
Dec. 5, 2025
The legal decision that ended the criminal cases against the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, has left the leadership of a key U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia in limbo, leading to frustration among judges in the state. ... A federal judge ruled last week that the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, had been unlawfully appointed as the U.S. attorney by the Trump administration. As a result, the judge ordered the dismissal of the high-profile indictments against Mr. Comey and Ms. James.
But while that decision, by Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who was brought in from a district in South Carolina to handle the question, found Ms. Halligan’s appointment invalid, it did not expressly order her removed from the office. ... The Justice Department has seized on the lack of explicit instruction to keep Ms. Halligan in place for now, eliciting the judges’ irritation. On Thursday morning, one judge removed Ms. Halligan’s name from a court filing and questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold the job. Days earlier, a magistrate judge hearing a different case had raised similar concerns, according to people familiar with the exchange.
It is the latest clash between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary over the proper way to appoint U.S. attorneys. The Justice Department has used unusual maneuvers to keep its preferred U.S. attorneys in place in districts across the country, including in New Jersey, Nevada and California, over the objections of federal judges there and without the Senate approval typically required of such positions.
At a hearing in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday before Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, involving an immigrant accused of illegally re-entering the country, prosecutors struggled to explain why Ms. Halligan remained listed as the U.S. attorney on court filings. ... The defense lawyer at the hearing asked that Ms. Halligan’s name be removed and Judge Nachmanoff, who oversaw the case against Mr. Comey before its dismissal, agreed that there appeared to be a problem. ... Judge Nachmanoff told prosecutors that he found it “difficult to reconcile” the fact that Ms. Halligan continued to oversee cases in the district with Judge Currie’s ruling, which “clearly found that Ms. Halligan is disqualified as serving as the interim U.S. attorney or the U.S. attorney at all.”
{snip}
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.