Halligan
(Photo
by
Al
Drago/Getty
Images)
Well,
well,
well
if
it
isn’t
the
logical
and
natural
consequences
of
this
administration’s
actions!
After
playing
musical
chairs
with
the
Eastern
District
of
Virginia’s
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
to
find
someone
—
anyone
—
with
a
pulse
and
a
JD
willing
to
file
frivolous
criminal
cases
against
former
FBI
Director
James
Comey
and
current
NY
Attorney
General
Letitia
James,
the
Trump
administration
braintrust
landed
on
insurance
lawyer
Lindsey
Halligan.
Fast
forward
to
today,
with
Judge
Cameron
McGowan
Currie
tossing
the
prosecutions
against
both
Comey
and
James
without
prejudice
after
deciding
that
Halligan’s
attempt
to
squat
in
the
office
was
long
on
vibes
and
short
on
“legal
support.”
Judge
Currie,
the
South
Carolina
senior
judge
brought
in
specifically
to
handle
the
disqualification
motion
declared
“The
Attorney
General’s
attempt
to
install
Ms.
Halligan
as
Interim
U.S.
Attorney
for
the
Eastern
District
of
Virginia
was
invalid,”
noting
that
the
120-day
limit
on
an
interim
U.S.
Attorney
appointment
had
lapsed
before
Halligan
even
got
her
crayon-engraved
invitation.
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi’s
galaxy
brained
argument
that
the
administration
should
be
allowed
to
keep
shuffling
120-day
appointments
indefinitely,
ran
aground
with
Judge
Currie
who
pointed
out
that
this
would
allow
the
administration
“to
evade
the
Senate
confirmation
process
indefinitely
by
stacking
successive
120-day
appointments.”
…the
Attorney
General
“could
not
have
authorized”
Ms.
Halligan,
who
was
not
an
attorney
for
the
Government
at
the
time,
to
present
Ms.
James’s
indictment
to
the
grand
jury
on
October
9….
The
implications
of
a
contrary
conclusion
are
extraordinary.
It
would
mean
the
Government
could
send
any
private
citizen
off
the
street
—
attorney
or
not
—
into
the
grand
jury
room
to
secure
an
indictment
so
long
as
the
Attorney
General
gives
her
approval
after
the
fact.
That
cannot
be
the
law.
Halligan
went
one
better
than
“attorney
or
not,”
by
arriving
on
the
“job”
as
an
insurance
lawyer
from
Florida
with
zero
prosecutorial
experience.
Though
the
“or
not”
might
well
have
brought
more
acumen
to
the
task,
since
Halligan’s
primary
accomplishment
since
she
began
cosplaying
as
a
U.S.
Attorney
involved
turning
in
a
fake
indictment
and
trying
to
weasel
out
of
that.
In
the
Comey
case,
a
flustercuck
from
jump,
this
dismissal
probably
concludes
the
whole
ill-conceived
crusade,
as
the
claims
against
his
supposed
false
statements
should
be
time-barred
absent
Pam
Bondi
securing
a
DeLorean
and
1.21
gigawatts.
So
until
this
DOJ
figures
out
how
to
transfigure
beachside
numerology
into
a
terror
plot,
Comey
should
be
in
the
clear.
If
the
DOJ
understood
that
discretion
is
the
better
part
of
valor
—
or
the
virtue
of
not
looking
a
gift
horse
in
the
mouth
—
or
whatever
your
chosen
folksy
saw
about
prudence,
they
would
take
this
off-ramp
to
drop
the
seemingly
weak
James
case
too.
Friends,
they
do
not
understand
this.
To
add
a
twist
of
irony
to
the
proceedings,
for
the
proposition
that
an
illegal
appointment
demands
tossing
the
case
altogether,
Judge
Currie
explicitly
cited
Judge
Aileen
Cannon’s
notoriously
goofy
opinion
killing
the
Trump
classified
documents
case
by
declaring
Special
Counsel
unlegal.
In
such
a
case,
“the
proper
remedy
is
invalidation
of
the
ultra
vires
action[s]”
taken
by
the
actor.
United
States
v.
Trump,
740
F.
Supp.
3d
1245,
1302
(S.D.
Fla.
2024).
The
two
situations
differ
significantly.
Jack
Smith
was
appointed
under
28
U.S.C.
§
515,
which
specifically
authorizes
the
Attorney
General
to
retain
special
attorneys
to
“conduct
any
kind
of
legal
proceeding,
civil
or
criminal,
including
grand
jury
proceedings
and
proceedings
before
committing
magistrate
judges,
which
United
States
attorneys
are
authorized
by
law
to
conduct,
whether
or
not
he
is
a
resident
of
the
district
in
which
the
proceeding
is
brought.”
The
legality
of
Smith’s
role
is
backed
up
by
decades
upon
decades
of
precedent.
Halligan,
by
contrast,
was
theoretically
appointed
an
interim
U.S.
Attorney
and
28
U.S.C.
§
546
lays
out
a
clear
120-day
limit
on
that
job.
But
putting
the
substance
aside,
if
an
appointment
is
illegal,
the
right
remedy
is
tossing
the
case.
Choosing
Trump’s
literal
get
out
of
jail
free
card
from
Judge
Cannon
for
this
proposition
was
cheeky.
And
we
approve.
Will
Trump
take
the
hint?
My
bet
is
no.
Joe
Patrice is
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