120 Days

7 snips

Jan 23, 2026

They unpack the legal fallout from a wrongly appointed prosecutor and the 120-day rule that let it happen. They explore reports that ICE uses secret administrative memos to enter homes without Article III warrants. They debate Fourth Amendment limits, a Minnesota injunction on ICE tactics, and high-profile custody and criminal charging controversies.

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ANECDOTE

Halligan's Short-Lived Tenure

Lindsey Halligan continued acting like U.S. Attorney despite a ruling her appointment was unlawful. Judge David Novak ultimately struck her name and ordered her not to file as U.S. Attorney.

INSIGHT

The 120-Day Appointment Trap

After a president's 120-day interim appointment expires, district judges can appoint an interim U.S. Attorney but the president can remove that judge-appointed attorney. That dynamic makes judges hesitant to install someone who will be immediately fired by the president.

INSIGHT

Circuit-Appointed Judge Carries Weight

Judge Currie was specially appointed by the circuit to resolve the appointment dispute, giving his ruling broader effect than a single district judge's decision. Novak used that fact to treat Currie's decision as binding for the district's cases.

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This week, Ken and Josh discuss the end of Lindsey Halligan's purported reign in the Eastern District of Virginia, and news reports that ICE is relying on a secret legal memorandum asserting that it can enter homes to search for aliens subject to final orders of removal, even if there’s no warrant from an Article III judge authorizing them to do so. That's for all subscribers. Paying subscribers also get:

* A look at the order enjoining ICE from certain enforcement tactics in Minnesota, but it’s subject to an administrative stay, for now — and, since this is Fourth Amendment Fun week, we have another opportunity to discuss how you might have a Fourth Amendment right, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get to use it.

* The case of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban national who died in ICE custody earlier this month. ICE says his death was a suicide, but his family disputes that, citing other detainees who claim he was choked by guards. (A county medical examiner’s report also deemed his death a homicide — a determination of manner of death, not a finding of legal culpability.) Alas, it’s up to DOJ to keep those witnesses available to testify, and if DOJ doesn’t want to, they’ll likely be deported.

* The federal charges for anti-ICE activists who are accused of disrupting a Twin Cities church service this past weekend — they were charged under the so-called Klan Act, and the charges were obtained via criminal complaint to a magistrate judge, which means prosecutors will still need to get a grand jury to agree to indict — and prosecutors’ failure so far to charge journalist Don Lemon.

* The Supreme Court’s ongoing effort to carve out the Federal Reserve from its plans to neuter independent boards and commissions (special unique historical tradition etc etc).

* And a weird one: former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has been sued for alienation of affection — still an available tort in North Carolina and five other states! — by the estranged wife of one of her former staffers, who says Sinema stole her man.

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