Legal disputes threaten Trump-appointed attorneys’ ongoing criminal cases

Trump-appointed lawyers are driving the key Federal court districts In blue states, they have become embroiled in legal disputes that test their authority and threaten to undermine the criminal cases they oversee.

He serves as US Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who filed a high-profile indictment against former FBI Director James Comey in Virginia, as well as appointees of President Donald Trump in New Jersey, California and Nevada.

In a sign of his growing frustration over the issue, Trump wrote in two statements Thursday night that he had “eight great Republican nominees for U.S. Attorney General” who had no path to Senate confirmation in blue states, blaming the Senate’s “blue slip” tradition. He called the precedent, requiring U.S. senators to approve nominees for U.S. attorney, “stupid and outdated.”

Vulnerability in Virginia

Trump nominated Eric Seibert to be U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, but he ousted Seibert in September and blamed Seibert for getting blue slips from two Democratic state senators. Indeed, Siebert bidder Criminal charges brought against two of Trump’s top political enemies, Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump nominates a senior White House aide to be federal prosecutor in Virginia

Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)

At Trump’s direction, Halligan, a former insurance lawyer with no litigation experience, entered the scene within days.

Halligan has been charged with indictments against both Comey and James, which could now come back to haunt the case Ministry of Justice.

Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law, noted that when Comey was indicted, Halligan was the only prosecutor to sign the indictment alleging he made a false statement to Congress. Comey has since told the court that he intends to challenge Halligan’s authority because of the unconventional way Trump appointed him to lead the US Attorney’s Office.

“Halligan’s case is central to the prosecution of James Comey, and if it turns out, for any reason, that she wasn’t properly appointed — she was the only person who signed the Comey indictment — that indictment will be thrown out, so the stakes are actually very high,” Blackman told Fox News Digital.

The judge could also dismiss Comey’s case for other reasons before processing Halligan’s appointment, which could allow the court to avoid processing the matter.

Halligan was also the only prosecutor to sign James’ bank fraud indictment. By contrast, several prosecutors appeared in court Thursday to consider the indictment of former national security adviser John Bolton in Maryland, and signed the 26-page charging document.

“It is absolutely unconscionable” that the president cannot choose his appointees

Halligan is not the only interim U.S. attorney facing scrutiny. Another Trump ally, Alina Haba, has seen her authority questioned in the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, where Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim refuse to support her, creating at least one insurmountable hurdle to her permanent confirmation.

When Haba’s interim term expired, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi used a series of loopholes in federal employment laws to bypass the Senate, fire Haba’s court-appointed successor, and reinstall Haba as “acting” U.S. attorney general, for 210 days.

Trump stands by Alina out of love as the Justice Department clashes with judges over her replacement

President Donald Trump listens as Alina Haba delivers her remarks before she is sworn in as interim US Attorney for New Jersey in the Oval Office of the White House on March 28, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

Judge Matthew Brann found A date for love It was illegal, and now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit will hear arguments on Haba’s appointment on Monday in a case that could head to the Supreme Court.

In court papers, the Justice Department argued federal vacancy laws established by Congress and the Constitution favor the president.

“It is highly implausible that Congress intended the default position for the President to rely on career officials who might disagree with his policies to serve as acting political staff during the critical period at the beginning of the administration,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote.

But the trend toward challenging Trump’s solutions did not stop with Haba.

More blues blues

A federal judge has disqualified Sigal Chatah from serving as interim US attorney in Nevada, while acting US Attorney Bill Eseley faces a legal challenge after Trump and Bondi extended his term in the Central District of California, where pivotal immigration cases are being heard.

Three groups of defendants facing charges in California are seeking to have their cases dismissed on the grounds that Al-Asili Moin is unfit. They claimed in court filings that using loopholes to bypass Asseily’s Senate confirmation follows “a guide to circumventing protections established by the Constitution and Congress against the unlimited and unaccountable selection of temporary officials.”

US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essay speaks during an immigration news conference at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 12, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said: Fox News Digital In August, Trump’s maneuvers to keep his most loyal prosecutors in positions of power defied the spirit of the Constitution.

“It is good that this scrutiny is done by the Judiciary Committee and then by the Judiciary Committee [Senate] “The floor, and I hope they can get back to something like that, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen, so I think it’s concerning,” Tobias said.

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Although the contentious battle between presidents to push their nominees through the Senate is not new, Blackman said Trump’s escalation of disputes is uncharted territory and that the issue is “two-fold.”

“The first problem is that senators might not consider Trump’s choices if they don’t have to,” Blackman said. “The second issue is, does the law actually allow for this type of solution? And I think Trump is kind of pushing new grounds. This has never been tested before in this way.”