In a telling example of how procedural games can derail accountability, the Department of Justice has formally appealed a controversial ruling that wiped out criminal cases against two of the Left’s most protected political figures: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The cases were tossed not on the merits, but by a technical ruling from U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, who declared that Lindsey Halligan—the Trump-selected interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia—had been unlawfully appointed after her 120-day interim term expired. Based on that claim, Currie ruled that everything flowing from Halligan’s tenure, including indictments approved by grand juries, must be nullified.
The fallout was immediate and sweeping. Comey, who had been charged with making false statements and obstruction stemming from his 2020 congressional testimony, walked free. So did James, who was facing serious mortgage fraud charges related to a Virginia property. Both cases collapsed overnight—not because prosecutors lacked evidence, but because a judge decided to slam the brakes on the process.
Attorney General Pam Bondi made it clear the administration isn’t backing down. Asked about the ruling and Comey’s familiar complaint that President Trump “cannot use the DOJ to target political enemies,” Bondi brushed off the theatrics.
“I’m going to keep going on this,” Bondi said flatly. “I’m not worried about someone who has been charged with a very serious crime. His alleged actions were a betrayal of public trust.”
Judge Currie’s ruling went even further, asserting that allowing Halligan to proceed would open the door for the government to send “any private citizen off the street” into a grand jury. Critics blasted the logic as absurd and detached from reality, noting that Halligan is a credentialed attorney acting under DOJ authority—not some random bystander.
Compounding the issue, efforts to re-indict James through new grand juries have reportedly stalled, including a recent attempt to bring a third felony charge. In response, the Trump administration has moved decisively, formally nominating Halligan for a permanent appointment and sending her name to the U.S. Senate.
Unsurprisingly, Virginia’s Democratic senators are signaling they will try to block the nomination—an all-too-familiar tactic when accountability threatens one of their own.
Meanwhile, Letitia James’s high-profile attorney Abbe Lowell rushed to Bondi with a self-righteous letter accusing the Trump administration of “weaponizing” the DOJ—the same charge Democrats have lobbed for years while cheering investigations into Trump and his allies. Lowell even argued that discrepancies in James’s records were insignificant “mistakes,” despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
Conservative watchdog group CASA wasn’t buying it. In a forceful statement, the organization blasted James’s alleged conduct as “illegal and dishonest,” noting that fraud and misrepresentation go directly to an attorney’s fitness to practice law.
Curtis Schube, CASA’s director of research and policy, called for immediate disciplinary review. “If the allegations are substantiated by a preponderance of the evidence,” he said, “she should be disciplined accordingly.”
The DOJ appeal now sets the stage for a broader reckoning. The question is no longer whether powerful Democrats will be scrutinized—but whether the system will allow it.
