Washington — A federal choose on Monday ordered the legal expenses in opposition to former FBI Director James Comey and New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James to be dismissed on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. lawyer who secured their indictments, was unlawfully appointed to the position.
The rulings from U.S. District Decide Cameron Currie are a major victory for Comey and James, who each argued their prosecutions are retaliatory and motivated by President Trump’s efforts to punish his political foes. The Justice Division is prone to attraction the choices and ask for them to be halted.
“I conclude that each one actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s faulty appointment, together with securing and signing Mr. Comey’s indictment, represent illegal workouts of government energy and have to be put aside,” Currie wrote in her opinion within the Comey case, a line that she repeated in her ruling within the James case.
Currie ordered the indictments to be dismissed with out prejudice, which might permit prosecutors to hunt expenses once more.
Attorneys for each Comey and James are additionally looking for to have their indictments tossed out on quite a few different authorized grounds, together with that the prosecutions are vindictive and selective. The choose overseeing Comey’s case heard arguments on his movement final week however has but to rule.
Halligan’s appointment
Halligan is a former insurance coverage lawyer who was a member of Mr. Trump’s protection crew in one of many legal circumstances introduced in opposition to him by former particular counsel Jack Smith. She took over as the highest federal prosecutor for the Jap District of Virginia in a brief capability in late September and sought the indictments in opposition to Comey and James quickly after.
Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi tapped Halligan as interim U.S. lawyer quickly after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, abruptly left the put up amid issues he can be compelled out for failing to prosecute James.
Bondi appointed Halligan below a federal regulation that governs U.S. lawyer vacancies and permits the lawyer normal to pick out an interim U.S. lawyer, who can then serve for 120 days. The Trump administration has invoked that regulation and one other measure to put in short-term prosecutors in New Jersey, Nevada and Los Angeles, although three completely different federal judges have all discovered they had been serving unlawfully.
Within the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in japanese Virginia, Siebert had first been tapped to guide the workplace in January to serve for 120 days. Forward of the expiration of his time period, the federal court docket for the area voted to maintain him within the position, exercising authority granted to it below federal regulation.
After Siebert departed, although, Mr. Trump urged Bondi to put in Halligan within the put up. Bondi issued a September order purporting to call Halligan because the interim U.S. lawyer, to serve for 120 days. Days after she took the helm of the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Halligan secured the two-count indictment in opposition to Comey. James, the New York lawyer normal, was indicted in early October on expenses of financial institution fraud. Each have pleaded not responsible to their respective expenses.
Comey’s attorneys argued that his indictment was “fatally flawed” as a result of Halligan, who alone introduced the case to the grand jury and signed the indictment, was invalidly appointed to her place.
They argued that below the framework for a brief U.S. lawyer appointment, the 120-day clock begins from the time of the lawyer normal’s preliminary appointment of Siebert and limits the overall tenure of interim appointments to 120 days. As a result of Siebert had already served the 120 days, solely the district court docket had authority to nominate a successor, protection legal professionals stated.
However Justice Division legal professionals defended the validity of Halligan’s choice and argued the 120-day restrict applies on a “per-appointment foundation.” Every appointment, they stated, triggers its personal clock and requires the lawyer normal to revisit her interim picks each 120 days.
To shore up Halligan’s work in Comey’s case, the Justice Division submitted to the court docket an October order from Bondi that additionally purported to call her particular lawyer, utilized retroactively, and ratified her actions earlier than the grand jury and signature on the indictment.
Justice Division legal professionals argued that even when Halligan’s appointment as interim U.S. lawyer was invalid, any authorities lawyer can current a case to a grand jury or signal an indictment, and Bondi has the authority to make her a authorities lawyer.
Currie heard arguments on Comey’s bid to dismiss the case on the appointment grounds earlier this month alongside the same effort by James. Like in Comey’s case, solely Halligan introduced the case to the grand jury and signed the indictment.
