On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a filing in the cases involving former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, defending the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan.
However, multiple attorneys, professors, and journalists have criticized the DOJ, viewing this move as a last-ditch attempt to keep Halligan in her role. Reuters reporter Brad Heath posted on Bluesky that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have “retroactively appointed former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan as a ‘special attorney’ for DOJ and has ‘ratified’ all of her actions to date, including her presentations to the grand juries that indicted Trump’s foes.”
Legal journalist Chris Geidner shared the DOJ filing along with the appointment details, quipping that Bondi “dressed up as a lawyer on Halloween. Evidently, time travel is now one of the Trump administration’s powers.” Columbia University history professor Karl Jacoby added his commentary on X, writing, “Time travel is now one of the Trump administration’s powers.”
In another post, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick admitted he is not a lawyer and doesn’t know the intricacies of the judicial system, but expressed confusion nonetheless: “I still had no clue how Pam Bondi can legally go back in time and appoint Halligan to a position as of six weeks ago.”
Harper’s Magazine contributing editor Scott Horton weighed in as well, stating, “Realizing that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan is fatally flawed, Pam Bondi engages in some quick steps to try to salvage things. Will it work? It shouldn’t, actually.”
Questions about the legality of Halligan’s appointment have persisted since she replaced former interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who was forced out after declining to bring charges against Comey and James. Conservative attorney George Conway argued last month that Halligan’s appointment was not lawful under the federal statute governing U.S. attorney vacancies, and furthermore, that her indictments of Comey and James should be dismissed.
Lawyer Cathy Gellis wrote on Bluesky, “We really need to talk about ‘ratification.’ This administration keeps thinking it can take garbage decisions made with no authority and somehow retroactively clean them up. This is not how anything can possibly work. At some point, the courts really need to start holding the DOJ in contempt. With real consequences.”
Neuroscientist Kevin Wright added, “As long as we’re making up new rules and powers for ourselves, I hereby retroactively unappoint Bondi and deratify everything she’s done in office.”
Comics writer Greg Pak also tweeted sarcastically, “As long as we’re making up new rules and powers for ourselves, I hereby retroactively unappoint Bondi and deratify everything she’s done in office.”
The controversy over Lindsey Halligan’s appointment and the DOJ’s attempt to retroactively legitimize her role continues to spark debate over legal procedures and the limits of executive authority.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-doj-mocked/
