ATL
Lindsey Halligan is an insurance lawyer cosplaying as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Because she is famously *not* the actual U.S. Attorney for the district. Though the Trump administration attempted to install her in the job, Judge Cameron Currie ruled that 28 USC § 546 allows the president to make only one interim appointment as U.S. Attorney in any given federal district, after which the position may only be filled by a Senate-confirmed nominee or a judicially installed placeholder. (Trump used up that appointment on Halligan’s predecessor Erik Seibert who was pushed out of the role for failing to act like a trained seal and prosecute Donald Trump’s political enemies.)
So, um, why is Schrödinger’s U.S. Attorney still out there signing indictments?
That’s what Judge David Novak wants to know, writing in a recent order, “the Court hereby DIRECTS Ms. Halligan to file, within seven (7) days of the issuance of this Order, a pleading explaining the basis for Ms. Halligan’s identification of herself as the United States Attorney, notwithstanding Judge Currie’s contrary ruling. 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. Ms. Halligan shall further explain why her identification does not constitute a false or misleading statement.”
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