Federal judges formally strip Lindsey Halligan of U.S. attorney title

Federal judges in eastern Virginia have moved to strip Lindsey Halligan, the embattled loyalist lawyer President Donald Trump handpicked to prosecute his enemies last year, of her self-proclaimed U.S. attorney title more than a month after a court formally disqualified her from the role.

On Tuesday, M. Hannah Lauck, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a court notice that since Halligan’s 120-day appointment — which was found to have been unlawful — formally ends Tuesday, the U.S. attorney title in the district would be vacant. Lauck also asked for qualified attorneys to apply to fill the role.

The move represents the latest development in the monthslong struggle between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and federal judges over who should lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The notice and job posting come just days after Trump, in a desperate attempt to keep Halligan at the helm of the key U.S. attorney’s office, nominated her to the position for a second time.

In the court notice, Lauck said that because the Senate had not confirmed Halligan, federal judges in the district now had the authority to appoint someone to replace her.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia did not immediately respond to Democracy Docket’s request for comment.

Halligan has repeatedly angered judges in the district by continuing to claim the U.S. attorney title after U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie determined in November that her original appointment was unlawful.

Currie found that Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi had circumvented the Constitution and federal law in appointing Halligan, who had no prosecutorial experience at the time.

Despite Currie’s finding, Halligan and the DOJ have insisted that she remains the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, one of the largest and most prestigious federal prosecutor offices in the country.

In a remarkably defiant filing last week, Halligan accused a federal judge of abusing his power by ordering her to explain how she remains the top federal prosecutor in eastern Virginia more than a month after Currie’s order.

Other judges have also fought back, striking Halligan’s name from legal documents or adding footnotes that cite the ruling on her unlawful appointment.

In September, shortly after Trump ordered Bondi to target his political enemies more aggressively, Trump appointed Halligan, his former personal lawyer, to serve as interim U.S. attorney. 

Just days after being sworn in, she brought criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, one of Trump’s long-time foes. She later also brought charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, another one of Trump’s targets.

But after finding Halligan’s appointment unlawful, Currie dismissed the indictments against Comey and James. The judge said the charges could not stand because they were sought by someone unlawfully serving a U.S. attorney.

The DOJ has appealed Currie’s dismissals to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.