A federal judge just tossed the indictments against James Comey and Letitia James, and the whole mess landed squarely on the laps of Senate Republicans who managed to sabotage their own cases without any help from Democrats. It takes real talent to fumble something this big, but the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill pulled it off by clinging to a procedural relic that should have been retired years ago.
The judge’s ruling pointed straight to the Senate’s old blue slip custom, a courtesy so outdated it might as well be stored next to a rotary phone. Instead of treating it like the partisan roadblock it has become, Republicans, with Sen. Chuck Grassley taking the lead, treated the thing like some sacred heirloom. The result was predictable. The blue slip choked off the confirmation of Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor President Trump wanted on the job. Since Halligan never officially made it through the Senate, the judge decided she legally couldn’t handle the prosecutions. The evidence never even got a chance to stand up on its own because the Senate tied its own hands.
The indictments were tossed without prejudice, which sounds gentler than it is. Sure, the feds could try again, but anyone paying attention knows the damage is already baked in. Conservatives have been wondering for a long time whether GOP leadership has the stomach to actually fight, and this little episode did nothing to reassure anyone.
Eric Daugherty, who never hesitates to call things the way he sees them, laid into Republicans for letting a procedural courtesy derail accountability. His frustrations echoed what a lot of people on the right have been saying for years. Democrats treat these traditions like optional decorations, while Republicans treat them like they’re welded to the foundation of the republic. Then they act surprised when the whole structure collapses.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn added his own shot of reality, arguing that the prosecutions were kneecapped by tactics, not proof. That line hit home for conservatives already convinced that their side keeps playing by rules the other side threw out a long time ago.
And the fallout is bigger than Comey and James. Dozens of judicial nominees are still trapped behind the same blue slip bottleneck, which slows everything from federal law enforcement to major investigations. Halligan’s blocked confirmation, which supporters saw as a real chance to dig deeper into the Trump Russia saga, became another casualty of Senate nostalgia.
Meanwhile, Comey and Letitia James are spinning all this as political revenge. James calls the investigations partisan, and Comey insists the scrutiny looks like campaign noise instead of legal oversight. That kind of spin only buries the bigger issue, which is that accountability cannot survive if one party is determined to preserve rituals that the other party has already turned into weapons.
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