The Justice Department is now trying to resurrect two high profile cases that seem to collapse every time sunlight hits them. After watching indictments against a former FBI director and New York’s famously aggressive attorney general get tossed, federal prosecutors are appealing a judge’s ruling that shut the whole thing down. If this feels messy and political, that is because it is.
The targets of this saga are James Comey and Letitia James. Back in September, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Comey on two counts tied to allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Prosecutors claimed he misled lawmakers during a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee appearance about leaks and his handling of sensitive information during the now thoroughly debunked Russia investigation.
A month later, in October 2025, that same grand jury indicted James on bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The allegation centered on her 2020 purchase of a property in Norfolk, Virginia, where she allegedly claimed it was a secondary residence to score better mortgage terms instead of disclosing it as an investment property. Irony does not even begin to cover it, given her obsession with charging others over paperwork.
Both indictments were secured under interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Halligan, a former White House aide and Trump attorney, stepped in after the previous interim U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, reportedly resisted pushing these cases forward. That detail alone tells you how radioactive the situation had become inside the DOJ.
Then the whole thing blew up in November. U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed both indictments without prejudice, ruling that Halligan’s appointment violated federal law and the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. The attorney general’s authority to appoint an interim U.S. attorney had expired, and because Halligan was the only prosecutor who presented the cases and signed the indictments, the court ruled everything she touched was invalid.
The DOJ tried again anyway. Earlier this month, prosecutors took another run at Letitia James with fresh grand juries. Both attempts failed. Jurors declined to indict. For Comey, things were even worse, with judges blocking access to certain evidence and the five year statute of limitations on the underlying conduct running out.
Despite all that, the Justice Department filed notices of appeal Friday to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The goal is to overturn Judge Currie’s ruling and reinstate the original indictments. For Comey, this appeal may be the final shot, as the statute of limitations clock is about to hit zero.
What this really shows is a DOJ trapped between politics, procedure, and reality. When grand juries refuse to indict twice, judges toss your cases, and deadlines expire, appeals start looking less like justice and more like desperation.
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