Judge: Halligan unlawfully appointed as Eastern District US attorney

A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Nov. 24, finding that Interim Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed to the post.

The near-identical decisions by Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie granted motions to dismiss filed by Comey and James, two political rivals of President Donald Trump who had each been indicted following Halligan’s appointment as U.S. attorney.

Comey faced charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress, while James was charged with mortgage fraud related to a home in Norfolk. The pair each argued that the prosecutions were retaliatory and related to an effort by Trump to punish political foes.

The dismissal by Currie, who is sitting by designation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, is the latest chapter in months of turmoil Virginia’s U.S. attorney’s offices have faced.

The turnover in the Eastern District began with the resignation of U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, on Jan. 20. Erik Siebert was subsequently tapped as interim U.S. attorney for a 120-day interim appointment.

Before Siebert’s term expired, the judges of the Eastern District of Virginia appointed Siebert to continue in his role as acting U.S. attorney, pending Congressional appointment to the post on a full-time basis.

But on Sept. 19, Siebert resigned before being confirmed. As stated in Currie’s opinion and in media reports, Siebert faced pressure to pursue charges against Comey and James that he “expressed concerns to senior Department of Justice officials about the viability of pursuing.” Hours before Siebert resigned, Trump told a press gaggle at the White House that he “wanted [Siebert] out.”

That weekend, Trump made a social media post directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, writing that “[w]e can’t delay any longer” in charging Comey, James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, and that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW,” while praising Halligan by name.

Halligan was tapped to serve as interim U.S. attorney on Sept. 22 via order by Bondi, which cited “only 28 U.S.C. § 546 as the basis for Ms. Halligan’s appointment.”

At the time of Halligan’s appointment, she was serving as White House Senior Associate Staff Secretary and Special Assistant to the President and had previously been a part of Trump’s personal legal team.

Grand juries returned indictments in the weeks following in Comey and James’ cases, with Halligan being the only prosecutor participating in the grand jury presentation and in signing the indictments.

Currie wrote that deciding the motions required her to “first [] decide whether Ms. Halligan was validly appointed as Interim U.S. Attorney under section 546 and the Appointments Clause.”

The judge determined that subsection (d) of the statute makes clear that appointment power shifts to the district court following the 120-day interim period, and “does not revert to the Attorney General if a court-appointed U.S. Attorney leaves office before a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney is installed.”

“In sum, the text, structure, and history of section 546 point to one conclusion: the Attorney General’s authority to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney lasts for a total of 120 days from the date she first invokes section 546 after the departure of a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney,” Currie wrote, adding that a vacancy that extends beyond that window remains with the district court until Senate confirmation of a nominee.

In the present case, Currie wrote that “Ms. Halligan was not appointed in a matter consistent with this framework,” as the 120-day window for the Eastern District of Virginia vacancy expired May 21.

“Consequently, I conclude that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025,” Currie wrote.

Additionally, Currie found Halligan’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause, as her appointment was in violation of the statutory scheme under section 546 that vests the appointment of interim U.S. attorneys.

An effort by Bondi to retroactively name Halligan a “special attorney” was deemed “ineffective” by Currie. Bondi issued the order in October, retroactive to Halligan’s start date, with the government arguing that any government lawyer can present a case to a grand jury or sign an indictment, with Bondi having authority to make such appointments.

“The implications of a contrary conclusion are extraordinary,” Currie wrote. “It would mean the Government could send any private citizen off the street – attorney or not – into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the Attorney General gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law.”

Currie dismissed the indictments without prejudice, allowing the government the opportunity to pursue the charges again. It was not immediately clear what the next steps in Comey and James’ cases would be.

“President Trump forced a qualified U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia to resign so he could appoint an unqualified replacement with no prosecutorial experience who isn’t even licensed to practice law in Virginia,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, said in a statement Nov. 24. “Why? In order to compel the initiation of criminal cases against his perceived political enemies. Today his blatant persecution effort blew up in his face.”