By Robert Simels
Originally published in amNewYork on
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Robert Simels examines how the administration has tried to install loyal lawyers as U.S. Attorneys without Senate confirmation. The law allows an unconfirmed designee to serve for only 210 days, and he writes that in six districts, including New Jersey, Virginia, Nevada, New York, Wisconsin and California, the administration has worked around that limit. He quotes Justice Robert Jackson's 1940 explanation of why federal prosecutors must win the confidence of both the President and the Senate.
Simels reviews two examples. In New Jersey, a court ordered Alina Habba removed as U.S. Attorney, the judges appointed an experienced prosecutor who was then fired, and the department tried to run the office with a three person leadership team, which Chief Judge Matthew Brann ruled illegal in a 130 page decision. In the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Attorney who found no basis to prosecute James Comey and Letitia James was fired and replaced by Lindsey Halligan, whose indictments were dismissed after courts found she was not properly appointed.
He then turns to discipline. Bar authorities in Florida and Virginia began looking at Halligan's conduct, although the Florida Bar later said it had no pending investigation, and the D.C. Bar filed charges against Ed Martin, the former acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Simels argues that the department's answer was a rule proposed in the Federal Register on March 5, 2026, under which the department would review bar complaints against its lawyers first and ask state bars to pause their own investigations. In his view, the rule is an attempt to block state and local bars from policing misconduct by federal prosecutors.
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This page is a summary prepared for robertsimels.com. The full commentary was published by amNewYork and remains on amNewYork's site.
Robert Simels. Robert Simels hosts the podcast Injustice for All and serves as a consultant on criminal justice matters. He is no longer practicing law.
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