Justice Dept. appealing decision tossing James Comey, Letitia James cases because of prosecutor's appointment

Washington — The Justice Department said Friday it will appeal a pair of decisions tossing out the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor who secured the indictments against them, was unlawfully appointed to her role as interim U.S. attorney.

The appeal was expected, as the White House and Attorney Pam Bondi had indicated that the Trump administration would ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to review last month's rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie. But it comes as Halligan and Justice Department lawyers have so far twice failed to secure a new indictment against James.

Halligan's name is on the notices of appeal, and she is listed as "United States attorney and special attorney."

Currie ruled that Halligan's appointment as interim U.S. attorney violated federal law and the Constitution's Appointments Clause and ordered the criminal charges brought against Comey and James to be dismissed.

"I conclude that all actions flowing from Ms. Halligan's defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey's indictment, constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside," Currie wrote in her opinion in the Comey case, a line that she repeated in her ruling in the James case.

Halligan is a former insurance lawyer who was a member of President Trump's defense team in the since-ended criminal case stemming from his alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents. She was tapped by Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia in September.

Soon after Halligan temporarily took the helm of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, she secured indictments against Comey and James. Comey was charged with two counts stemming from testimony he gave to Congress in September 2020 and pleaded not guilty. He was indicted just days before the statute of limitations for the offenses was set to expire.

James faced charges of bank fraud and pleaded not guilty.

Since Currie ordered the cases against Comey and James to be tossed out, Halligan has attempted to secure a new indictment against James. But grand juries in Norfolk and Alexandria, Virginia, have each separately refused to indict James again. 

It's unclear whether Halligan has sought to re-indict Comey, though Currie suggested in her November decision that prosecutors could not seek a new indictment in his case because the statute of limitations expired at the end of September. Additionally, a separate federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked the Justice Department from accessing material it seized from one of Comey's friends more than five years ago, which Halligan had relied on when she presented the case against Comey to a grand jury in September.

Comey and James had also moved to have the criminal charges against them tossed out on the grounds that their respective prosecutions were vindictive and selective. Judges overseeing their cases had not yet ruled on those bids, however, when their cases were dismissed.