Comey
(Photo
by
Eric
Thayer/Getty
Images)
Yesterday,
Judge
Cameron
McGowan
Currie
tossed
the
Trump
administration’s
slapdash
effort
to
criminally
prosecute
former
FBI
Director
James
Comey,
noting
that
the
purported
U.S.
Attorney
behind
the
prosecution
had
all
the
legal
authority
of
three
raccoons
in
a
trench
coat.
Alas,
the
role
of
“Kinda
Sorta
Interim-ish
U.S.
Attorney
for
the
Eastern
District
of
Virginia,”
is
not
so
much
“real,”
with
the
statutory
authority
provided
to
the
actual
interim
U.S.
Attorney
having
expired
months
ago.
Shuffling
lawyers
in
the
top
job,
Judge
Currie
observed,
cannot
reset
the
120-day
cap
on
staffing
a
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
with
a
placeholder
or
the
executive
could
keep
swapping
out
cronies
ad
infinitum
to
permanently
avoid
the
constitutional
requirement
for
Senate
confirmation.
With
Halligan
proving
more
confident
than
the
law
or
her
own
competence
could
support,
Judge
Currie
found
herself
with
no
choice
but
to
ditch
both
the
case
against
Comey
and
the
equally
(pun
intended)
trumped
up
charges
against
current
NY
Attorney
General
Letitia
James.
While
the
dismissals
were
without
prejudice,
it
likely
closes
the
door
on
Comey’s
case,
since
the
whole
reason
Halligan
scrambled
to
cobble
together
an
indictment
that
the
grand
jury
never
voted
upon
was
the
ticking
clock
of
the
statute
of
limitations
that
would
turn
the
allegations
against
Comey
into
pumpkins
that
week.
And
now
that
indictment
—
which
was
already
doomed
because
of
the
grand
jury
screwup
—
is
void
from
jump
because
Halligan
lacked
any
more
authority
than
a
random
person
off
the
street,
and
the
statute
of
limitations
has
definitively
closed.
But
MAGA
social
media
still
has
hope:
There’s
a
six-month
extension!
See,
it
says
“for
any
reason”
right
there!
Now,
even
though
this
case
would’ve
been
time-barred
within
hours
of
the
flawed
indictment,
the
government
gets
another
half
a
year
to
get
its
act
together.
Assuming
they
can
convince
the
Senate
to
confirm
someone
dumb
enough
to
bring
the
case.
Except…
no.
Despite
the
hope
they’re
pouring
into
this
“for
any
reason”
language,
the
problem
facing
the
government
is
that
Judge
Currie
didn’t
“dismiss”
the
indictment
so
much
as
declare
that
there
never
was
an
indictment
in
the
first
place.
As
she
explains
in
footnote
21,
even
though
“fake
prosecutors”
are
—
mercifully
—
not
something
the
justice
system
historically
dealt
with
very
often,
we
actually
do
have
caselaw
covering
how
to
handle
this
specific
six-month
extension
statute
in
light
of
a
void
indictment:
Generally,
“[t]he
return
of
an
indictment
tolls
the
statute
of
limitations
on
the
charges
contained
in
the
indictment.”
United
States
v.
Ojedokun,
16
F.4th
1091,
1109
(4th
Cir.
2021).
“An
invalid
indictment,”
however,
“cannot
serve
to
block
the
door
of
limitations
as
it
swings
closed.”
United
States
v.
Crysopt
Corp.,
781
F.
Supp.
375,
378
(D.
Md.
1991)
(emphasis
in
original);
see
also
United
States
v.
Gillespie,
666
F.
Supp.
1137,
1141
(N.D.
Ill.
1987)
(“[A]
valid
indictment
insulates
from
statute-of-limitations
problems
any
refiling
of
the
same
charges
during
the
pendency
of
that
valid
indictment
(that
is,
the
superseding
of
a
valid
indictment).
But
if
the
earlier
indictment
is
void,
there
is
no
legitimate
peg
on
which
to
hang
such
a
judicial
limitations-tolling
result.”
(emphasis
in
original)).
Here,
the
statute
of
limitations
collapsed
before
any
government
official
with
legal
authority
even
tried
to
get
an
indictment.
The
indictment
doesn’t
even
exist.
This
is
the
reading
Comey’s
lawyers
endorse,
and
it’s
the
only
one
that
makes
any
sense.
The
alternative
would
incentivize
the
government
to
hire
an
intern
off
Fiverr
to
turn
in
a
fake
indictment
the
day
before
the
limitations
period
runs
to
avoid
the
law.
Perhaps
fittingly,
the
alternative
reading
exhibits
the
same
core
bad
faith
as
repeatedly
stacking
“interim”
appointments
to
avoid
a
statute
capping
the
role
at
120
days.
Just
as
it
can’t
be
the
law
that
the
executive
can
forever
shuffle
lawyers
to
escape
the
Senate’s
constitutional
role,
they
can’t
constantly
file
void
documents
to
prolong
the
statute
of
limitations
just
by
slapping
the
word
“indictment”
on
them.
Earlier:
Lindsey
Halligan
Manages
To
Lose
Two
Cases
At
Once,
Which
Is
Honestly
Impressive
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