Courtroom drama unfurled on the docket Monday, as disqualified acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan joined up with Justice Department leaders Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche to write a furious brief punching back at U.S. District Judge David Novak, himself an appointee of President Donald Trump.
Halligan was disqualified from office after a court determined that the process the DOJ used to slot her in after the previous U.S. attorney was ousted was illegal — a move that blew up the Trump administration's politically-charged prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Several other Trump prosecutors appointed this way have also been disqualified, including Alina Habba in New Jersey, John Sarcone in New York, and Sigal Chattah in Nevada.
Despite this, Halligan has continued to work in the office and identify herself as a U.S. attorney. This drew the scrutiny of Novak, who ordered Halligan to explain why she is still using a federal title she does not have.
Halligan, Bondi, and Blanche responded with a scathing 11-page brief that accused Novak of not knowing what he's talking about and abusing his office.
"In violation of the Rules of Criminal Procedure and the principle of party presentation, the Court has initiated a sua sponte inquisition into whether it should strike Ms. Halligan’s title from the Government’s signature block," stated the brief. "The order launching this quest reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Judge Currie’s orders dismissing the indictments in United States v. Comey and United States v. James, and flouts no fewer than three separate lines of Supreme Court precedent on elementary principles like the role of federal courts, the effect of district court rulings, and the nature of our adversarial system."
The brief went on to accuse Novak of a "gross abuse of power," and said that the court that ruled Halligan was ineligible for office "did not purport to enjoin Ms. Halligan from continuing to oversee the office or from identifying herself as the United States Attorney in the Government’s signature blocks."
The adversarial language in the brief stunned All Rise News' Adam Klasfeld, who weighed in on the controversy on X.
"In this document, Halligan — fully backed by the top DOJ officials — characterizes Trump-appointed Judge Novak's order as an 'inquisition.' They call it an 'insult,' the judge's mere 'fixation,' 'gross abuse of power,' and a 'cudgel' against the executive branch. They accuse him of making 'rudimentary error,'" wrote Klasfeld.
"To put it mildly, this isn't the type of language one typically sees by a party addressing a judge."
