Senior U.S. Judge to Decide Whether Whitaker’s Appointment Was Invalid

Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra presided over a hearing yesterday in which Flanary Law Firm challenged President Trump’s appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General.

On behalf of our client, Luis Valencia, Flanary Law Firm argued that the United States Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice do not have authority to continue in their prosecution of the case because the Acting Attorney General—the highest figure in the Department of Justice—was invalidly appointed.

Our Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Authority to Prosecute was filed on November 12 and soon multiple parties followed suit, including Maryland’s Attorney General (recently supported by an amicus brief from 15 other attorneys general), multiple federal defendants, and a trio of Senate Democrats.

In the hearing, Judge Ezra noted that granting this challenge would “cause a massive disruption in prosecutions across the country because every single defense lawyer would have to file a motion to dismiss predicated on the same grounds as (Flanary’s motion) because if they don’t . . . it would be malpractice.”

He stated that he would have an Order ready in the following days. This could be the first ruling in the country on this issue, which Judge Ezra emphasized would not sway his decision.