Judge Says Halligan Lacked Authority, Voids Indictments of Comey and New York AG James
A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal prosecutions of former FBI director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — delivering a serious blow to the efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration to pursue high-profile prosecutions against critics of the former president. The judge, Cameron McGowan Currie, ruled that the prosecutions were invalid because the prosecutor who filed the indictments, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed.
Currie found that the Justice Department’s installation of Halligan violated both the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and federal statutes governing U.S. attorney vacancies. Halligan assumed the interim U.S. attorney role for the Eastern District of Virginia after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, left — but the 120-day maximum for such interim appointments had already expired. As a result, Halligan had no legitimate authority to bring or sign the indictments.
“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment … constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside,” the judge wrote. That meant the indictments against Comey — which accused him of lying to Congress — and charges against James related to alleged mortgage fraud had to be thrown out.
The rulings dismissed the cases “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility of re-indictment under a properly appointed prosecutor. But in Comey’s case, courts noted the statute of limitations has already expired, making a reload unlikely.
In response, the Justice Department — led by Attorney General Pam Bondi — pledged to appeal. Officials defended Halligan’s appointment and said they may attempt to re-file the cases.
The decision marks a strong rebuke of the DOJ’s tactic of installing loyalists to pursue politically sensitive cases outside the standard Senate-confirmed processes. Observers see it as a major legal setback for the administration’s efforts to use federal prosecutions against perceived political adversaries. What happens next depends on whether the government moves quickly to re-indict — and whether new prosecutors can overcome both legal and statutory hurdles.
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