A federal judge is ordering embattled attorney Lindsey Halligan to explain why she is continuing to refer to herself as a U.S. attorney after she was found to be unlawfully serving in her position in November.
U.S. District Judge David Novak issued a three-page order on Tuesday, demanding a written explanation from Halligan within seven days. The order was not issued at the request of defense attorneys, but rather by the judge himself.
“This matter comes before the Court on its own initiative,” Novak wrote, saying that the “binding Court order” that found her to be serving illegally is “not subject to being ignored.”
Novak ordered Halligan to issue a “pleading explaining the basis” for continuing to call herself the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“She shall also set forth the reasons why this Court should not strike Ms. Halligan’s identification of herself as United States Attorney from the indictment in this matter,” Novak wrote. “Ms. Halligan shall further explain why her identification does not constitute a false or misleading statement.”
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Halligan was hand-picked by President Donald Trump to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Her cases quickly fell apart in court. In the case against Comey, it was revealed that she moved forward with Comey’s indictment despite not getting approval from a grand jury. The indictments against both James and Comey were tossed when U.S. District Court Judge Cameron Currie found that Halligan was unconstitutionally appointed to her role.
As of this writing, the Department of Justice has not responded to Novak’s order.
