U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum speaks with Lindsey Halligan during a reception for Sergio Gor, the recently sworn-in U.S. Ambassador to India, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 10, 2025. Picture taken November 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Despite a judge's ruling Monday that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed to her post as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors in the office were told to continue to use Halligan's name on cases, reports CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane.

"Two hours after yesterday’s ruling that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed to her post as U.S. Attorney in Virginia, prosecutors in the office were notified to put name of an assistant U.S. Attorney atop their cases," MacFarlane posted on X.
"At 4:30 PM, instruction was reversed. They were told to resume using Halligan’s name on cases."

Lisa Rubin, MSNOW's senior legal reporter also says that "according to emails obtained by MS NOW [and] two sources familiar with EDVA, after Lindsey Halligan was ruled to be unlawfully appointed as interim U.S. Attorney, prosecutors were first instructed to sign court filings in the name of her first assistant."

"Yet just over an hour later, a further office-wide email told prosecutors that decision was 'premature' and directed them to revert back to signing court filings in the name of 'Lindsey Halligan, United States Attorney," Rubin explained on X.

MSNOW's justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian posted on X that," DOJ prosecutors are still putting Lindsey Halligan’s name on indictments even after a judge ruled her appointment illegal."

Halligan is still considered "special attorney for the Justice Department," reports MSNOW's Fallon Gallagher.

Dilanian tells MSNOW's Ana Cabrera that Justice Department officials are "horrified and embarrassed."

"By appointing Lindsey Halligan as special attorney, they have given her the power of a special counsel like Robert Mueller, so it will be really interesting to see whether they play games with that," Dilanian says.

"We're in unchartered territory here," Dilanian adds, noting "the leadership of the DOJ is growing tired of losing in court."