Lindsey Halligan has finally done the one thing the Department of Justice steadfastly refused to do for months: acknowledge reality. Following an extended farce of legally illiterate cosplay as the “United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia,” Halligan had to hang up her wings and tutu as Judge David Novak declared that playtime was over. In an 18-page benchslapping, Judge Novak formally barred Halligan from continuing to call herself a U.S. Attorney in filings until she either gets confirmed by the Senate or appointed by the district judges under 28 U.S.C. § 546(d). Since neither option had much chance, Pam Bondi announced that Halligan would be leaving her not-really-her-job.
She joins Alina Habba — another lawyer with more cable news presence than criminal prosecutorial know-how — in having to sheepishly depart a U.S. Attorney role she held illegally.
The opinion marks a ignominious end for the insurance lawyer without any criminal law background, whose only qualification for the job was a willingness to pursue federal criminal cases based on Donald Trump’s fever dreams. When attorneys with experience and principles refused to launch phony prosecutions to harass Trump’s enemies, the president published what was almost certainly meant as a DM to Attorney General Pam Bondi complaining that no one had pursued his perceived rivals and flagging Halligan as the sort of lawyer who could get in there and bring cases against former FBI Director James Comey and current NY Attorney General Letitia James.
And Halligan proved the president right to the extent the sort of lawyer willing to sign onto those cases required one with no clue what she was doing and a degree from the Dunning-Kruger School of Law. She promptly wasted taxpayer dollars on two cases swiftly laughed out of court. While neither case had much going for it — the James case kept getting rejected by grand jurors and the Comey indictment wasn’t even signed by a grand jury — the biggest problem was Halligan’s own illegal appointment.
Those decisions were made by Judge Cameron McGowan Currie of the District of South Carolina, sitting by designation by order of Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Albert Diaz to conclusively resolve the matter of Halligan’s appointment without requiring the judges of the Eastern District — who might be charged with finding her replacement — to decide the issue. Spoiler: This will be relevant.
But despite Judge Currie’s order, Halligan stuck around anyway, continuing to identify herself as the head of the office, until Judge Novak penned what can best be described as an “Order To Explain What The Hell, Lady?” asking her to explain why the court kept seeing her name on documents as though nothing had happened. The DOJ’s response wasn’t so much legal advocacy as a Newsmax chyron with footnotes. It marked the natural and logical endpoint of a strategy forged by a DOJ brain trust that believes “being loud on TV” counts as a litigation strategy.
Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, 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.
Judge Novak is a Trump-appointee. It’s a reminder that while there are some in-over-their-head Trump-nominated district judges and a bevy of Republican Circuit Court judges willing to light fire to their dignity to stay in Trump’s good graces, the federal trial courts have, more often than not, put aside partisanship to honor the rule of law.
Bondi, Blanche, and Halligan — that three-headed dragon meme if all three heads sported googly eyes — decided to tell Judge Novak that the court ruling Halligan’s appointment illegal in the Comey and James cases didn’t apply to any other cases and every criminal defendant would need to relitigate the issue from scratch. Judge Novak declined the invitation to turn validity of every prosecution in the district into legal whack-a-mole.
Rather stunningly, Ms. Halligan fails to even mention Chief Judge Diaz’s Order, let alone discuss its impact here. In short, Ms. Halligan has not only ignored Judge Currie’s rulings, she has also turned a blind eye to an Order from the Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit. The Court finds it inconceivable that the Department of Justice, which holds a duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States — even those with which it may have disagreement — would repeatedly ignore court orders, while simultaneously prosecuting citizens for breaking the law.
Is it stunning, though?
For an added injection of comedy: even if Halligan’s appointment had been valid, it would have expired on January 20, 2026, the day Judge Novak issued this order. So the 120-day clock ran out… again! This whole exercise in defiance was for nothing.
The DOJ’s attempt to bootstrap this to the Supreme Court’s attack on nationwide injunctions, a dunderheaded argument from the start, also earned an exasperated eye roll from Judge Novak:
The Court’s concerns about Ms. Halligan’s representation do not implicate the specific concerns that the CASA Court set out to address and, more importantly, do not reach beyond this Court, let alone across the Nation. Rather, the Court simply applies the legal precedent promulgated by Judge Currie’s Order, which disposed of the validity of Ms. Halligan’s appointment for all matters in which her unlawful appointment becomes an issue in this District, to include the specific indictment in the case at hand.
“Simply flouting a judicial order because of a disagreement of ‘interpretation’ and acting like that order does not exist is simply not an option,” Judge Novak writes.
But the most surgically cruel jab comes at the end, as Judge Novak declines to refer Halligan to disciplinary authorities:
The Court recognizes that Ms. Halligan lacks the prosecutorial experience that has long been the norm for those nominated to the position of United States Attorney in this District. Consequently, and in light of her inexperience, the Court grants Ms. Halligan the benefit of the doubt and refrains from referring her for further investigation and disciplinary action regarding her misrepresentations to this Court at this time.
You’re not malicious, just stupid is a rough passage to have published in the annals of American law.
But it’s a frustrating conclusion to reach. Virginia authorities have already indicated that they won’t bother enforcing professional ethics without an engraved invitation from a judge… and maybe not even then. Does anyone have jurisdiction over accountability anymore? Or is this just an elaborate game of hot potato until everyone gives up? Leniency is a virtue, but at a certain point someone has to put their foot down, because — to borrow from Judge Novak himself — simply flouting a judicial order because of a disagreement will continue to be the DOJ’s plan of action as long as everyone keeps treating these lawyers like misguided students instead of willful bad actors. Halligan may be out, but whoever comes next will push even further, knowing the worst that happens is a strongly worded opinion that declines to follow through.
But firewalls only work if breaching them carries an actual cost.
Earlier: Lindsey Halligan Says Her ‘I’m An Illegal Appointment’ T-Shirt Has People Asking A Lot Of Questions Already Answered By Her Shirt
Judge Demands Fake U.S. Attorney Explain Why She’s Still Pretending To Be U.S. Attorney
Virginia State Bar Whistles Past Lindsey Halligan Ethics Complaint Claiming It’s Not Their Job
Alina Habba Quits Job She Never Legally Held
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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