Federal Judges Take Over Hiring For Key DOJ Spot After Disqualifying Trump Attorney

Federal judges posted a job application online Tuesday seeking someone to take Lindsey Halligan’s place as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Chief United States District Court Judge M. Hannah Lauck issued an order directing the court’s clerk to “publish a vacancy announcement on the Court’s website and in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, The Virginian-Pilot and Virginia Lawyers Weekly.”

Halligan, whose appointment was found unlawful in November when a judge dismissed her cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, has continued to operate in the role.

Judge David Novak pressed her on this decision in a Jan. 6 order requesting “a pleading explaining the basis for Ms. Halligan’s identification of herself as the United States Attorney.”

“The Court’s thinly veiled threat to use attorney discipline to cudgel the Executive Branch into conforming its legal position in all criminal prosecutions to the views of a single district judge is a gross abuse of power and an affront to the separation of powers,” Halligan responded in a Jan. 13 filing.

Halligan’s response “contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” Novak wrote in a Tuesday opinion.

“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position,” Novak wrote on Tuesday. “And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders. In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Halligan was appointed to lead the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia’s office shortly after Erik Siebert, who previously held the position, left under reported pressure from Trump to bring charges.

Halligan is one of five U.S. attorneys who have been disqualified by federal judges. Others in New Jersey, Nevada and California have also been found unlawfully appointed.

Under federal law, district courts “may appoint a United States Attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled” when the Attorney General’s appointment expires.