Federal judge dismisses indictments against Letitia James and James Comey, saying Lindsey Halligan appointment was unlaw

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: CNN

A federal judge dismissed the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday.

The judge found that the appointment of interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan in Alexandria, Virginia, was invalid.

Trump handpicked Halligan for the role amid increasing pressure to bring criminal cases against his political enemies, including Comey and James.

“The Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid,” Judge Cameron McGowan Currie wrote in her Monday order.

According to Currie, “all actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment” including the indictments against Comey and James “were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside.”

The judge tossed out the cases “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility that the cases against Comey and James can be brought again alleging the same conduct.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/politics/james-comey-letitia-james-indictments-dismissed?cid=ios_app

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I just posted the updated CNN article

[JoseBalow]

1. LOL!

Suck it, fascists!

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Beat me by 2 minutes!

CNBC just blared a breaking news!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. You usually beat me

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I get billions of "breaking news" banners all day and night from the news apps

(on my iphone, iPad, and now Apple Watch )

CNN still hasn't sent a breaking through their app on this yet (they did the Mark Kelly one though).

[thought crime]

5. I really appreciate your daily news posts

You're doing good work!

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Thanks! They promised to "flood the zone" and they have!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Comey case dismissed without prejudice. Halligan invalidly appointed, judge rules

BREAKING: Comey case dismissed without prejudice. Halligan invalidly appointed, judge rules. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-11-24T17:36:58.237Z

[Nittersing]

7. The most incompetent administration ever.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. They should have dismissed "with prejudice"

Now let the cycle of appeals begin.

[ananda]

19. I know. I'm definitely not happy with the without prejudice part.

I mean, it looks quite obviously prejudicial to me.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Well I'm guessing because of the novel and convoluted way

the 45 admin has been handling these U.S. Attorney appointments and there really hasn't been any SCOTUS precedent ruling for what should be considered a clearly illegal circumstance.

Hell - they have been trying to disqualify Jack Smith (not understanding the difference between "principal officers" and "inferior officers", where Garland appointed Smith as an "inferior officer", in contrast to what they have been doing - appointing new "Actings" when the temp's appointee's detail expires (in some cases, appointing someone who didn't even work in the office), and then lofting them into all the duties of a "principal" officer-equivalent of a U.S. Attorney. And worse, Bondi apparently "retroactively-approved" this mess and called it "done".

[ananda]

30. They are not operating as upholders of the law or Constitution...

but rather whims of iron.

[surfered]

6. Pound sand, Bondi! It's always loyalty over competence when dealing with the toddler-in-chief

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Judge dismisses cases against James Comey and Letitia James after finding prosecutor was unlawfully appointed

This makes me smile

BREAKING: Judge dismisses cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding prosecutor was unlawfully appointed.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-11-24T17:49:03Z

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-dismisses-cases-james-comey-letitia-james-finding-prosecutor-was-rcna244775

A federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding the prosecutor who brought the cases was not lawfully appointed.

"I agree with Mr. Comey that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid. And because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment," U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie wrote in her ruling, finding the indictment should be tossed because the appointment of former Donald Trump personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan was invalid and she'd lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury.

She issued a separate ruling dismissing the James case.

Because Halligan, who'd been appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia at Trump's direction, was the only prosecutor to present the cases and sign the indictments, the indictments should be voided, the judge found.

The ruling could have major ramifications for other prosecutions brought by Halligan’s office during her tenure. A similar ruling disqualifying Alina Habba as the New Jersey U.S. Attorney has resulted in a number of criminal cases brought under her leadership being stuck in legal limbo while she appeals the decision.

Currie seemed largely skeptical of the Justice Department's position at a rare joint hearing on the issue with lawyers for Comey and James on Nov. 13, where a prosecutor portrayed questions about Halligan's appointment as "a paperwork error."

[mcar]

10. Woo hoo!

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Appeal in 10, 9, 8 ....

[FakeNoose]

17. What's to appeal? The prosecutors messed up, they can't appeal this ruling

If they decide on a REDO ... they'll have to start all over with a new Grand Jury and get a new indictment.
Are they really going to do that again? Comey's lawyers have already seen how lame their "evidence" is.

[Du916]

22. DOJ has to appeal.

Re-indictment is not possible because the statute of limitations has run. An appeal is low probability.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

25. Love your "you can beat a dead horse" analogy.....

Because even with a refiling, the case dismissal rings even louder.

This does not endear a "vote off confidence" on Pammy B's part. It does illustrate just how INCOMPETENT she is at her job and exposes her motives as purely "Political payback".

[sinkingfeeling]

31. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143571440

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Link to orders (PDFs)

COMEY - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.213.0_1.pdf

JAMES - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.583341/gov.uscourts.vaed.583341.140.0_1.pdf

[bromeando]

16. DOJ

The DOJ has to be forced to follow the law.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

18. LOL@MAGA

[Grins]

20. "without prejudice" Of, fer chris' sake!

If there ever was a case FOR prejudice it was these two.

[bluestarone]

21. Veryn Happy here. So is it possible for Letitia to proceed against TSF?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. Judge Currie basically slams the door on re-indicting Comey here.

The statute of limitations has run.

Link to tweet

Comey will still have to respond the upcoming appeal but he should get a final judgement at some point

[Cha]

24. Great News... TY LMPV!

[IbogaProject]

26. Only way Comey gets charged is if this ruling is overturned

The Statue of Limitations ran out the day after that "inditement", so the only way the Fed Government can charge is if this rulling is overtunred, and then his other appeals come into play. In a way if Tangerine pushes them to try and appeal it will leave Halligan in a risky position as her specific actions submitted two inditements and questions if the second grand jury vote was based on the document filed. I think she commited actual fraud, I hope if that happened she ends up in Prison in 28 or 29.

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. "Without prejudice"

It should have been With prejudice. James is not in the clear. They can keep harassing her with new threats now.

[Coldwater]

28. Did trump choose her for her looks

or did she have to do him a favor, or both?

[travelingthrulife]

32. But did it get her a gig on Fox? That is the important question.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. Deadline Legal Blog-Judge dismisses Comey and James indictments, says Halligan unlawfully appointed

James Comey and Letitia James both challenged the legality of Halligan’s installation. It’s one of several issues in their cases.

Judge dismisses Comey and James indictments, says Halligan unlawfully appointed
www.ms.now/deadline-whi...

— Jeff Johnson (@liberalarkie.bsky.social) 2025-11-24T18:16:47.495Z

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/james-comey-james-indictments-dismissed-lindsey-halligan-unlawfully-appointed

A federal judge has ruled that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, leading the judge to dismiss the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The indictments are dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning they could theoretically be brought again by a lawful prosecutor.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the DOJ will appeal. James’ lawyer said they “will continue to challenge any further politically motivated charges through every lawful means available.” Comey said his prosecution was “based on malevolence and incompetence.”

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie issued similar separate opinions on Monday in Comey’s and James’ cases explaining her decision.....

The appointment issue is just one of several motions to dismiss that Comey and James have raised in their respective cases, another big one being vindictive prosecution. The appointment issue required an out-of-district judge to handle, and the matter fell to Currie, a South Carolina judge who held a joint hearing with Comey’s and James’ lawyers and the DOJ before issuing her ruling.

Judges around the country had previously deemed unlawful the attempted installations of other lawyers to lead prosecutors’ offices in the Trump Justice Department, including Alina Habba in New Jersey. Yet that still hasn’t led to defendants being able to dismiss their cases as a result of that illegality.

“The official who purported to secure and sign the indictment was invalidly appointed to her position as interim U.S. Attorney. Because of that fundamental constitutional and statutory defect, the indictment is a nullity and must be dismissed,” Comey’s lawyers wrote in his motion to dismiss, adding that dismissal should be permanent “in order to deter the government’s willfully unlawful conduct.” Likewise in her motion, James’ lawyers wrote that dismissal is warranted because “there is no evidence that any other government attorney played a role in securing the indictment.”