A US federal judge has pulled up President Donald Trump‘s loyalist Lindsey Halligan for her continued usage of the ‘US attorney’ title.
The judge, David Novak, deemed the usage unlawful and gave Halligan seven days to respond and explain why she’s identifying herself as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a court ruling that she was unlawfully appointed to the role.
Failure to provide a reasonable explanation could also lead to disciplinary proceedings against her, Axios reported.
Who is Lindsey Halligan?
Halligan became widely known in 2025 after being appointed by Trump as the interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, a powerful federal prosecutor’s office. She had previously served as a private lawyer and was part of Trump’s legal circle, but she had no prior prosecutorial experience when tapped for the role.
Halligan was tapped for the post after Trump pushed out the former interim US attorney, Erik Siebert.
Her appointment quickly became controversial: In November 2025, a federal judge ruled that Halligan’s appointment was unlawful under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Constitution because she had been installed beyond the statutory 120‑day interim period and without Senate confirmation.
That decision led to the dismissal of criminal cases she brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, on the basis that she lacked authority to act as US attorney.
Notably, Comey and James have both been targets of repeated criticism by President Donald Trump, who had called for both of them to be prosecuted, including in a social media post the day Halligan was appointed, NBC reported.
DOJ had defended Halligan
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has defended Halligan’s and accused federal judges of waging a “campaign of bias and hostility” against her.
“Even [as] Ms Halligan’s appointment [was] invalid, the motions to dismiss [her] be denied. While Defendants challenge Ms Halligan’s appointment as interim US Attorney, the actions they challenge do not hinge on her validly holding that particular office,” the Justice Department had earlier said, according to CNN.