A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia barred Lindsey Halligan from continuing to identify herself as a U.S. Attorney in all legal matters in a fiery 18-page order Tuesday.
Judge David Novak, a Trump appointee, condemned Halligan for continuing to represent herself as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia before his court and on government documents after a judge in November ruled she had been appointed to the position unlawfully.
Novak ordered Halligan immediately drop the U.S. Attorney title from all future legal filings, saying she has “no legal basis” to hold the position and “any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” in his order Tuesday.
The order, which came after Halligan was asked to submit an explanation to the court for her continued use of the title despite the November order, demands U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche be given the same direction after they appeared as signatories on Halligan’s explanation.
“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,” Novak wrote in the order.
Novak also promised disciplinary action against Halligan and the Justice Department or any other signatories if they “persist in ignoring” the court’s orders.
Last November, U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie ruled Halligan’s service as U.S. Attorney unconstitutional and the indictments she brought against President Donald Trump’s political rivals invalid, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche decried the decision.
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.