A federal judge ordered Lindsey Halligan, the disqualified acting U.S. attorney President Donald Trump's Justice Department installed in the Eastern District of Virginia, to stop calling herself a U.S. attorney in a scathing ruling on Tuesday — and went out of his way to rebuke her for a "vitriol"-laden filing with the court that would be "more appropriate for a cable news talk show."
Halligan was installed by the DOJ after her predecessor, a seasoned conservative prosecutor, could not find the evidence Trump was hoping for to prosecute two of his key political critics, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former FBI Director James Comey.
But Halligan, along with the cases against Comey and James, were thrown out after a court determined the process by which Halligan was put in charge of the U.S. attorney's office was illegal. It was one of several cases in which various courts around the country ruled the Trump administration tried to make an end run around the proper process for appointing federal prosecutors.
Despite this ruling, Halligan continued referring to herself as a "U.S. attorney" and conducted work in the office as if she were still serving in that role, prompting further legal motions to stop her from doing so. In response, Halligan, in a joint filing with Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, fired off a filing that slammed the courts for a "fundamental misunderstanding" and a "gross abuse of power."
On Monday, however, U.S. District Judge David Novak, himself a Trump appointee, brought down the hammer, finding Halligan may not use the title of "U.S. attorney" and that she "ignore[d] a binding court order" that compelled her to stop.
"Ms. 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," wrote Novak, adding that "The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat." He warned that "Ms. Halligan and anyone who joins her on a pleading" that continues to call her a U.S. attorney "subjects themselves to potential disciplinary action in this Court pursuant to the Court’s Local Rules."
