James Comey and Letitia James’ indictments were tossed. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it was done without prejudice—some of the charges against could be refiled—but the judge, Cameron McGowan Currie, who issued these rulings, is another disgrace to the bench. She’s a 1994 Clinton appointee and apparently felt it necessary to go the extra mile for child rapists. As a private attorney, she fought for leniency for a man, Larry Donnell Williams, who raped and murdered a three-year-old girl in 1987. She has a history of activism with the Democratic Party and donated to them as well, but what is it with Democrats and feeling bad for the perpetrator and not the victim or the families that are left shattered by these crimes?
Case in point, every single sob story about some deported illegal turns out he or she was an absolute trash human being. Currie ruled that Comey’s indictment should be tossed on the basis that the appointment of Lindsay Halligan as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was unlawful. Therefore, the cases against Comey and Ms. James, who was indicted on mortgage fraud, should be tossed. Comey is taking a victory lap, as the statute of limitations in his case has expired (via WaPo):
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor overseeing both cases, had been unlawfully appointed as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and, therefore, indictments she single-handedly secured against Comey and James must be thrown out.
Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed that the department would pursue “all available legal action including an immediate appeal.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed Currie as another “partisan judge” who she said had taken “unprecedented steps to try to intervene in accountability.”
[…]
Comey’s lawyers had argued that he cannot be recharged now because the five-year deadline to bring a case against him expired days after he was indicted in September. Currie appeared to endorse that view in her written opinion Monday. She cited rulings by other courts that have held that if an indictment is invalid at the time it is issued, it does not pause the clock on the statute of limitations.
[…]
When Erik S. Siebert, the Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney overseeing both investigations, concluded that the evidence did not suffice, Trump forced him out of his job and installed Halligan, an ex-White House aide and one of the president’s former personal lawyers, in his place.
Within days, Halligan, who had no previous prosecutorial experience, secured indictments against Comey on charges that he lied to Congress about authorizing leaks to the news media, and James on allegations of mortgage fraud.
[…]
In defending Halligan’s appointment, the Justice Department advanced an expansive view of its authority to temporarily fill U.S. attorney vacancies with the president’s candidate of choice despite efforts by Congress to limit the circumstances under which appointees can fill those roles without first receiving Senate approval.
Confirming Halligan is going to be tough, and no doubt, she’s going to be a casualty of a blue slip, given the circumstances. Yet, that doesn’t mean you keep trying to find ways to hold Comey accountable. If Democrat judges want to play this game, we should go all-in. The judicial coup must be opposed.