CHALLENGING UNLAWFUL EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

THE IMPACT

The Senate’s role in confirming presidential nominees is essential to maintaining accountability, preserving our system of checks and balances, and preventing executive overreach.

THE BRIEF

The President’s nominees for U.S. Attorney must be confirmed by the Senate before they can serve on a permanent basis. The Trump administration violated the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007 when it appointed the President’s personal lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ms. Halligan’s illegal appointment followed the resignation of her predecessor, Erik Siebert. President Trump told reporters he planned to fire Mr. Siebert. These comments were made after Mr. Siebert allegedly refused to seek indictments against the President’s political adversaries, including James Comey. Several days after her appointment, Ms. Halligan presented and secured an indictment against Mr. Comey.

We’re asking the courts to resolve this illegal appointment on behalf of a bipartisan group of current and former members of Congress, including members who voted for the Act in 2007.

“The extraordinary circumstances presented in this case reflect the dangers that the Constitution’s drafters and members of Congress recognized when they carefully placed and preserved limits on the executive branch’s authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys,” we argue in the brief.

THE TEAM

The current and former members of Congress are represented pro bono by Free + Fair and Levy Firestone Muse LLP.

THE CONGRESS MEMBERS

• Barbara Comstock, Representative of the 10th Congressional District of Virginia from 2015 to 2019 (R).
• Mickey Edwards, Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Oklahoma from 1977 to 1993 (R).
• Wayne Gilchrest, Representative of the 1st Congressional District of Maryland from 1991 to 2009 (R).
• Jim Greenwood, Representative of the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania from 1993 to 2005 (R).
• Stephen Lynch, Representative of the 9th Congressional District of Massachusetts from 2001 to 2013, and the 8th Congressional District of Massachusetts from 2013 to the present (D).
• Frank Pallone, Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of New Jersey from 1988 to 1993, and the 6th Congressional District of New Jersey from 1993 to the present (D).
• Tom Petri, Representative of the 6th Congressional District of Wisconsin from 1979 to 2015 (R).
• Christopher Shays, Representative of the 4th Congressional District of Connecticut from 1987 to 2009 (R).
• David Trott, Representative of the 11th Congressional District of Michigan from 2015 to 2019 (R).
• Nydia Velazquez, Representative of the 12th Congressional District of New York from 1993 to 2013, and the 7th Congressional District of New York from 2013 to the present (D).