Attorney General Pam Bondi took a move this month that was meant to head off the possibility that acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, the newly minted MAGA federal prosecutor in Virginia overseeing the cases against President Donald Trump's high-profile political opponents, could be removed.
What it may have done instead is make her even more likely to be removed, Lawfare's Roger Parloff wrote on X Thursday.
Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie heard arguments in a challenge to whether Halligan was lawfully appointed. Halligan, like multiple other acting U.S. attorneys the Trump administration was ruled to have installed illegally, was placed on an acting basis, even though the position was already filled by a lawfully appointed prosecutor. That prosecutor had been removed after expressing doubts about the evidence to move forward with charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the latter of whom filed the challenge.
"James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Halligan was 'pretending' when she brought the indictment," reported CNN. By contrast, "The Justice Department argued that even if Halligan is improperly serving in the role, the indictments should not be thrown out because they don’t hinge on her holding the office. One lawyer called the issue a 'paperwork error.'"
However, Parloff noted, Currie focused in particular on a strange move by the Justice Department that seemed designed to head off the possibility that she would be removed, with Pam Bondi designating her a "special attorney" to the Justice Department.
"Judge Currie skeptical," wrote Parloff. "Said AG Bondi couldn’t have ratified what [Halligan] did because Bondi didn’t even have complete grand jury minutes at time." The bottom line, he said, is "AG Bondi's attempted post-hoc ratification maneuver may've back-fired. Judge Currie asked govt words to the effect: ~Let's cut to the chase. What about ratification? Why do you need that?~ The implication was: Why do you need that if the original appointment was proper."
Currie has indicated a ruling will come down on the matter before Thanksgiving.
