Fail

In what is probably the least surprising of the year, Federal Judge Currie of the Eastern District of Virginia has dismissed all charges against James Comey and Letitia James. 

Given that appointment of beauty queen/insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was a direct violation of the law, her indictments were null and void.  (And that's without considering how egregious her conduct was before the grand jury)

A federal judge on Monday tossed out separate criminal charges against the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, saying the loyalist prosecutor installed by President Trump to bring the cases was put into her job unlawfully.

The twin rulings, by Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, were the most significant setback yet to the president’s efforts to force the criminal justice system to punish his perceived foes. The case dismissals also served as a rebuke to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had rushed to carry out Mr. Trump’s orders to appoint the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

This is a bigger deal for Comey, because he was indicted in the last day under the statute of limitations, which should mean that his case should be done. 

My take is not particularly well-informed though, I'm an engineer, not a lawyer, dammit! ⃰

The dismissal is without prejudice, so theoretically they can refile against James.

………

Judge Currie’s orders center on Mr. Trump’s unorthodox decision to appoint Ms. Halligan to her prosecutorial position in an interim capacity, replacing his previous pick, who was also serving in a temporary role. Within days after assuming her new post, Ms. Halligan rejected the advice of the career prosecutors in her new office and moved single-handedly to indict both Mr. Comey and Ms. James, two of the president’s most reviled targets.

In her rulings on Monday, Judge Currie said that it was unlawful to appoint two interim prosecutors in succession, and dismissed the charges against Mr. Comey and Ms. James without prejudice.

………

The manner in which the judge dismissed the Comey indictment could now lead to a legal fight over whether the government can try to refile the charges with another grand jury.

Mr. Comey was indicted just days before the five-year statute of limitations was set to run out on any charges stemming from his congressional testimony. His lawyers, and a magistrate judge, have said the statute has now expired, meaning charges could not be refiled. 

………

Other federal judges have already ruled that Mr. Trump’s Justice Department unlawfully used similar procedural maneuvers to put loyalists in place at three other U.S. attorney’s offices. Those include Alina Habba, who was put in charge of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey; Sigal Chattah, who was named the acting U.S. attorney for Nevada; and Bilal Essayli, whom Mr. Trump put in the top job at the U.S. attorney’s office in the Central District of California.

I wonder how the corrupt 6 SCOTUS Justices will work around this.

I'm sure that they'll try, though. 

^*I love it when I get to go all Dr. McCoy!