The move echoed a similar Justice Department decision that was made earlier this month in New York.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it fired the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just hours after judges on the court made the appointment.
“Here we go again. EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does,” wrote Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a post on Feb. 20, referring to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“James Hundley, you’re fired!”
Blanche was responding to a report that the district court had appointed Hundley to take the position that was formerly occupied by Lindsey Halligan after she stepped down earlier this year. A judge had deemed that her appointment was unlawful, also tossing cases that were overseen by Halligan, including one brought against former FBI Director James Comey and another against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“FIRED,” wrote Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote as she reposted Blanche’s comment on X.
Hundley was unanimously appointed by the judges of the district court, according to a statement from the court’s office. U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck administered the oath of office for Hundley on Feb. 20 in Richmond, Virginia.
In a court filing announcing his appointment, Lauck wrote that Hundley has more than 35 years of experience as a litigator in the state of Virginia and that he co-founded a law firm that works in both federal and state courts. Hundley also has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and was appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court to be a council member for the state bar association, according to the filing.
Hundley released a statement to media outlets after he was appointed as U.S. attorney, saying that “it was a great honor to be appointed by the Court as Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia” and said that he had been “practicing law in Virginia for many years and have always held the Court and the United States Attorney’s Office in the highest regard.”
The announcement from Blanche last week isn’t the first time the DOJ terminated a U.S. attorney following a court decision.
