On Friday, the federal courthouse in the Eastern District of Virginia briefly had a new top federal prosecutor. The judges named James W. Hundley as interim U.S. attorney, and the Justice Department showed him the door within hours. The rapid-fire reversal injected fresh drama into an already heated fight over who actually gets to pick leaders for some of the country’s most sensitive U.S. attorney’s offices.
The court's judges, led by Chief Judge M. Hannah Lauck, unanimously selected Hundley under a statute that lets district courts appoint an interim U.S. attorney when a prior interim appointment has expired, according to The Washington Post. Within hours, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche jumped on X and posted, "EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you're fired!" as reported by The Associated Press.
Why the judges stepped in
Judges in Alexandria moved after months of turmoil inside the U.S. attorney’s office, including a court ruling that found the previous interim, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed, and after the district posted a public notice seeking candidates to serve under 28 U.S.C. § 546(d). The statutory path that lets a district court appoint an interim U.S. attorney once a 120-day attorney general appointment expires is detailed on the court's vacancy page, according to the Eastern District of Virginia. A Congressional Research Service legal sidebar further explains how that appointment power works, per a CRS legal sidebar.
Who is James Hundley
Hundley is a veteran Virginia litigator with decades of courtroom experience in civil and criminal cases and a private practice in the Washington suburbs, according to reporting on his background. Bloomberg Law has summarized his career, and Supreme Court records show he argued Dickerson v. United States before the high court in 2000, per Supreme Court records.
What comes next for the EDVA office
The Justice Department's lightning-fast response underscores the executive branch's view that the president, not district judges, chooses interim U.S. attorneys, and the episode echoes similar clashes in other districts in recent weeks. Legal observers say the competing readings of the law are likely to trigger more appeals, and that leadership uncertainty in an office known for national security and other high-profile prosecutions could complicate work that is already in motion.
Legal questions ahead
At the center of the dispute are dueling interpretations of 28 U.S.C. § 546 and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and courts will probably be asked to decide whether the attorney general's short-term appointment power runs out so that the district court's appointment authority then kicks in. As the Congressional Research Service notes, those statutory ambiguities could spark appellate rulings or even prompt Congress to step in with legislative fixes to spell out who may temporarily lead U.S. attorney offices.
