Lindsey Halligan, the Donald Trump-affiliated insurance lawyer the Justice Department handpicked to pursue some of the president’s longtime political foes, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, was not lawfully appointed, and therefore, the indictments against them are dismissed.
After reviewing grand jury materials connected to Comey’s case, U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, explained the decision: It all came back to a 120-day deadline for interim attorneys.
As HuffPost reported in April, the Trump administration has been taking advantage of loopholes in appointment rules for interim or temporary U.S. attorneys to install Trump loyalists. By law, when a U.S. attorney steps down for whatever reason, their interim replacement can only stay in the position for 120 days — or until a judge in the relevant district decides that the interim attorney should be appointed or the court makes an appointment of its own.
“Ms. Halligan was not appointed in a manner consistent with this framework,” Currie wrote.
Therefore, the judge continued, “all actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment” are considered “unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside.”
