Florida Bar reverses itself, says it is not investigating Lindsey Halligan

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Florida Bar reverses itself, says it isn’t investigating Lindsey Halligan

By Jeremy Roebuck, Katie Mettler, The Washington Put up

March 6, 2026, 3:43 pm CST

The Florida Bar mentioned Friday that it isn’t investigating Lindsey Halligan, the previous interim U.S. lawyer for the Jap District of Virginia, contradicting a letter it despatched final month through which it said it had opened an inquiry into her conduct involving prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s political foes.

In an announcement, a bar spokesperson mentioned the group’s counsel had “erroneously” said that there was a “pending investigation” in opposition to Halligan in a Feb. 4 letter he despatched to the nonprofit group Marketing campaign for Accountability, which had filed a criticism in opposition to her. That letter was made public Thursday, when The Washington Put up and different media retailers cited it to report that Halligan had drawn disciplinary scrutiny that would result in disbarment.

Requested Thursday concerning the letter, the Florida Bar individually confirmed that there was an “open case” in opposition to Halligan. However lower than a day later, the group reversed course, saying there by no means had been an lively investigation.

“There isn’t a such pending Bar investigation of Lindsay Halligan,” bar spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis mentioned. “On this case, The Florida Bar acquired a criticism in opposition to Lindsay Halligan and, according to normal observe, the Bar is monitoring the continued authorized proceedings underlying the criticism.”

The about-face raised speedy questions concerning the bar affiliation’s intentions surrounding one among Trump’s most controversial U.S. lawyer appointees. Halligan, initially an insurance coverage lawyer from Florida with no expertise as a prosecutor, resigned as U.S. lawyer in January beneath growing stress from federal judges in Virginia after a court docket dominated that she had been unlawfully appointed to her place.

Beneath the Florida Bar’s typical procedures, an consumption officer first evaluates a criticism to find out if there’s possible trigger to open a proper investigation. The criticism in opposition to Halligan stays at that preliminary stage, Krell Davis mentioned, pending ongoing authorized proceedings involving her in Virginia.

Throughout her transient tenure final 12 months, Halligan secured indictments in opposition to former FBI director James B. Comey and New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James, over the objection of profession prosecutors in her workplace and after Trump publicly demanded that the Justice Division transfer swiftly to cost each. A federal decide dismissed each circumstances final 12 months, ruling that the indictments had been invalid as a result of Halligan by no means had the authority to hunt them.

The Justice Division, which maintains that Halligan was correctly appointed, is interesting the court docket ruling dismissing the Comey and James circumstances.

The Marketing campaign for Accountability filed bar complaints in opposition to Halligan in Virginia and Florida, citing considerations that federal judges had raised about her conduct earlier than grand juries and her preliminary refusal to vacate her workplace after the ruling deeming her appointment invalid.

In a Feb. 4 response, Carlos A. Leon, counsel for the Florida Bar, mentioned the group was conscious of the developments and was monitoring them intently. “We have already got an investigation pending,” he wrote.

Michelle Kuppersmith, Marketing campaign for Accountability’s government director, mentioned that regardless of the Florida Bar’s efforts to stroll again these statements Friday, nobody from her group has heard something official from the affiliation since final month.

“If there isn’t a longer an investigation into Halligan, the query is why not, provided that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that seems to violate ethics guidelines,” Kuppersmith mentioned.

A federal Justice of the Peace decide overseeing points of Comey’s case mentioned final 12 months that it appeared Halligan had made “basic misstatements of the legislation” throughout her presentation to the grand jury within the case – ones so extreme that they might compromise the way forward for the prosecution. However the case was thrown out earlier than these considerations could possibly be totally explored in court docket.

Different judges in Alexandria, the place the Jap District of Virginia relies, threatened disciplinary sanctions after Halligan refused to vacate her submit and stored utilizing the “U.S. lawyer” title after the ruling disqualifying her from serving within the function.

Halligan has not responded to a number of requests for remark concerning the Marketing campaign for Accountability’s criticism and the varied statements from the Florida Bar.

The Justice Division, in the meantime, is pushing to rewrite rules surrounding state bar investigations of division workers, saying the method has been weaponized in recent times by “political activists.”

The Florida Bar processes about 13,000 complaints a 12 months concerning attorneys licensed in Florida, in line with its web site, only a quarter of which finally transfer past the consumption stage. If a proper investigation is opened, the trail to potential self-discipline or a settlement settlement will be prolonged and contain a grievance committee, administrative judges and the Florida Supreme Court docket.

The Virginia State Bar, which additionally acquired a criticism from the Marketing campaign for Accountability about Halligan’s skilled conduct, declined to touch upon the specifics of the case however mentioned in an announcement that every one bar complaints and investigations are confidential.

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