A federal judge has thrown out the criminal indictments against James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding that the prosecutor who brought the cases, Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed. The ruling strips the cases of their legal footing and is a rare rebuke of heavy-handed prosecutorial theater masquerading as justice.
According to the court, Halligan’s installment as interim U.S. attorney violated the statutory process meant to prevent exactly this kind of end-run around Senate confirmation and judicial oversight. Reports show she stepped into the role after a forced ouster of the prior interim prosecutor and then quickly brought high-profile charges — a sequence that smells like political expediency, not careful law enforcement.
The dismissal wasn’t about the underlying allegations but about the rule of law; the judge concluded the government’s appointment maneuver made the indictments unlawful. That distinction matters: conservatives who believe in equal application of the law should welcome a decision that reasserts procedural guardrails against raw political prosecution.
Practically speaking the orders came “without prejudice,” leaving a theoretical path for refiling, but the clock may already have run out in at least one case. Legal analysts note that Comey’s indictment was brought just before the relevant statute of limitations expired, making a second try unlikely, while other defendants face different procedural hurdles.
The courtroom record also exposed troubling grand jury irregularities and missteps in how the prosecutions were presented, reinforcing the sense that this was rushed and sloppy work performed under political pressure. Any administration that substitutes loyalty for experience in sensitive prosecutorial roles invites chaos and undermines confidence in the Justice Department — conservatives should be the first to call that out.
This ruling ought to be a wake-up call in Washington: if both parties are serious about justice, they will support reforms to insulate prosecutions from political patronage, hold officials accountable for procedural abuses, and restore confidence in our institutions. Vindicating the Constitution doesn’t mean endorsing every accused official; it means insisting that the government follow the law, even when pursuing favored outcomes.
