在一份11页的法庭文件中，司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)、副总检察长托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)和代理美国检察官林赛·哈利根(Lindsay Halligan)周二抨击了一名联邦法官，称其对哈利根继续代表自己担任弗吉尼亚州东区联邦检察官进行“调查”，此前另一名法官发现她是法律上不允许的扮演这个角色。
前白宫助理哈利根被唐纳德·特朗普总统任命为临时联邦检察官，安全起诉书反对前美国联邦调查局导演詹姆斯·科米和纽约州总检察长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯(Letitia James)在11月份被美国地区法官卡梅隆·麦高恩·柯里(Cameron McGowan Currie)裁定，她是在未经参议院确认或联邦司法机构任命的情况下被非法任命的。
上周，美国地区法官大卫·诺瓦克司法部下令为了解释为什么哈利根在她的办公室发布起诉书后仍然使用这个头衔，在起诉书中，她在文件的签名栏中被确定为美国检察官。
在周二的法庭文件中，邦迪、布兰奇和哈利根抨击了诺瓦克法官的命令。
“法院几乎不加掩饰地威胁使用律师纪律，迫使行政部门在所有刑事诉讼中的法律立场符合一名地区法官的观点，这是对权力的严重滥用，也是对分权的公然冒犯，”文件称。“底线是，哈利根女士没有‘歪曲’任何事情，法院完全错误地认为，在这个案件或任何其他案件中，对政府签名的任何改变都是正当的。”
“与法院的建议相反，科米和詹姆斯的解雇令中没有任何规定禁止哈利根女士履行美国联邦检察官的职能或坚持自己的立场，”文件称。“尽管柯里法官得出结论，哈利根女士是根据第546条被非法任命的，但她并没有打算禁止哈利根女士继续监督该办公室，或在政府的签名栏中表明自己是美国检察官。”
DOJ官员表示，诺瓦克法官“迷恋”哈利根的签名，这“与联邦法院的实际运作无关”
他们争辩说，法院无权取消她的签名。
DOJ officials slam judge for questioning Lindsey Halligan's status as US attorney
In an 11-page court filing, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Acting U.S. attorney Lindsay Halligan blasted a federal judge Tuesday for what they called an "inquisition" against Halligan for continuing to represent herself as U.S. attorney for Eastern District of Virginia, after another judge found she wasnot legally allowedto serve in the role.
Halligan, a former White House aide who was appointed interim U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump,secured indictmentsagainstformer FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, only to have them thrown out when U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie determined in November that she had been unlawfully appointed without being either Senate confirmed or appointed by the federal judiciary.
Last week, U.S. District Judge David Novakordered the Justice Departmentto explain why Halligan was still using the title after her office issued an indictment in which she was identified as U.S. attorney in the document's signature block.
In their court filing on Tuesday, Bondi, Blanche and Halligan slammed Judge Novak's order.
"The Court's thinly veiled threat to use attorney discipline to cudgel the Executive Branch into conforming its legal position in all criminal prosecutions to the views of a single district judge is a gross abuse of power and an affront to the separation of powers," the filing said. "The bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not 'misrepresented' anything and the Court is flat wrong to suggest that any change to the Government's signature block is warranted in this or any other case."
"Contrary to this Court's suggestion, nothing in the Comey and James dismissal orders prohibits Ms. Halligan from performing the functions of or holding herself out as the United States Attorney," said the filing. "Although Judge Currie concluded that Ms. Halligan was unlawfully appointed under Section 546, she did not purport to enjoin Ms. Halligan from continuing to oversee the office or from identifying herself as the United States Attorney in the Government's signature blocks."
The DOJ officials said Judge Novak had a "fixation" on Halligan's signature block, which was "untethered from how federal courts actually operate."
They argued that the court has no authority to strike her signature from the block.
