Yesterday, Decide Cameron McGowan Currie tossed the Trump administration’s slapdash effort to criminally prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, noting that the purported U.S. Legal professional behind the prosecution had all of the authorized authority of three raccoons in a trench coat. Alas, the position of “Kinda Sorta Interim-ish U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of Virginia,” shouldn’t be a lot “actual,” with the statutory authority supplied to the precise interim U.S. Legal professional having expired months in the past. Shuffling attorneys within the prime job, Decide Currie noticed, can’t reset the 120-day cap on staffing a U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace with a placeholder or the manager may maintain swapping out cronies advert infinitum to completely keep away from the constitutional requirement for Senate affirmation.
With Halligan proving extra assured than the regulation or her personal competence may help, Decide Currie discovered herself with no alternative however to ditch each the case towards Comey and the equally (pun supposed) trumped up expenses towards present NY Legal professional Basic Letitia James.
Whereas the dismissals had been with out prejudice, it doubtless closes the door on Comey’s case, because the complete cause Halligan scrambled to cobble collectively an indictment that the grand jury by no means voted upon was the ticking clock of the statute of limitations that may flip the allegations towards Comey into pumpkins that week. And now that indictment — which was already doomed due to the grand jury screwup — is void from leap as a result of Halligan lacked any extra authority than a random particular person off the road, and the statute of limitations has definitively closed.
However MAGA social media nonetheless has hope:
There’s a six-month extension! See, it says “for any cause” proper there! Now, despite the fact that this case would’ve been time-barred inside hours of the flawed indictment, the federal government will get one other half a yr to get its act collectively. Assuming they’ll persuade the Senate to substantiate somebody dumb sufficient to deliver the case.
Besides… no.
Regardless of the hope they’re pouring into this “for any cause” language, the issue dealing with the federal government is that Decide Currie didn’t “dismiss” the indictment a lot as declare that there by no means was an indictment within the first place. As she explains in footnote 21, despite the fact that “faux prosecutors” are — mercifully — not one thing the justice system traditionally handled fairly often, we really do have caselaw masking how one can deal with this particular six-month extension statute in mild of a void indictment:
Typically, “[t]he return of an indictment tolls the statute of limitations on the fees contained within the indictment.” United States v. Ojedokun, 16 F.4th 1091, 1109 (4th Cir. 2021). “An invalid indictment,” nevertheless, “can’t serve to dam the door of limitations because it swings closed.” United States v. Crysopt Corp., 781 F. Supp. 375, 378 (D. Md. 1991) (emphasis in authentic); see additionally United States v. Gillespie, 666 F. Supp. 1137, 1141 (N.D. Sick. 1987) (“[A] legitimate indictment insulates from statute-of-limitations issues any refiling of the identical expenses through the pendency of that legitimate indictment (that’s, the superseding of a legitimate indictment). But when the sooner indictment is void, there is no such thing as a respectable peg on which to hold such a judicial limitations-tolling end result.” (emphasis in authentic)).
Right here, the statute of limitations collapsed earlier than any authorities official with authorized authority even tried to get an indictment. The indictment doesn’t even exist.
That is the studying Comey’s attorneys endorse, and it’s the one one which makes any sense. The choice would incentivize the federal government to rent an intern off Fiverr to show in a faux indictment the day earlier than the restrictions interval runs to keep away from the regulation. Maybe fittingly, the choice studying reveals the identical core unhealthy religion as repeatedly stacking “interim” appointments to keep away from a statute capping the position at 120 days. Simply as it could actually’t be the regulation that the manager can ceaselessly shuffle attorneys to flee the Senate’s constitutional position, they’ll’t continuously file void paperwork to extend the statute of limitations simply by slapping the phrase “indictment” on them.
Earlier: Lindsey Halligan Manages To Lose Two Circumstances At As soon as, Which Is Actually Spectacular
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Legislation and co-host of Considering Like A Lawyer. Be happy to e-mail any ideas, questions, or feedback. Observe him on Twitter or Bluesky for those who’re enthusiastic about regulation, politics, and a wholesome dose of faculty sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Government Search.
