"The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie halt at least for now a pair of prosecutions that had hastened concerns that the Justice Department was being weaponized to pursue the president's political adversaries and amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration's legal maneuvering to install a loyal, and inexperienced, prosecutor willing to file the cases. The orders make Lindsey Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the manner in which they were appointed."
"But the judge instead dismissed them without prejudice, though it was not immediately clear if or how the Justice Department might attempt to revive the prosecutions. The challenge to Halligan's appointment was one piece of a multiprong assault on the indictments by both Comey and James, who had each sought to have their cases dismissed on grounds that the prosecutions were vindictive."
"Comey's lawyers had also seized on irregularities in the grand jury process in seeking to get the prosecution thrown out. Each of those requests remains pending. Monday's order deals exclusively with the mechanism the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, to lead one of the Justice Department's most elite and important offices."
A federal judge dismissed criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James after finding the prosecutor who brought charges was illegally appointed. The rulings paused prosecutions that raised concerns about Justice Department politicization and rebuked efforts to install a loyal, inexperienced prosecutor. Lindsey Halligan was disqualified after taking the post following pressure that led to interim U.S. attorney Erik Siebert's exit. Both defendants had sought dismissal with prejudice; the judge dismissed without prejudice. Separate motions alleging prosecutorial vindictiveness and grand jury irregularities remain pending, leaving open whether the Justice Department might attempt to revive the prosecutions.
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