By Holmes Lybrand and Devan Cole, CNN
Photo: Getty Images via CNN Newsource
A federal judge has dismissed the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump handpicked Halligan for the role amid increasing pressure to bring criminal cases against his political enemies, including Comey and James.
"The Attorney General's attempt to install Ms Halligan as Interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid," Judge Cameron McGowan Currie wrote in her Monday order.
According to Currie, "all actions flowing from Ms Halligan's defective appointment" including the indictments against Comey and James "were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside".
The judge tossed out the cases "without prejudice", leaving open the possibility that the cases against Comey and James can be brought again alleging the same conduct.
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Halligan, a former White House adviser, was selected for the role after the Trump administration pushed out the previous interim US attorney amid increasing pressure to bring cases against Comey and James.
In the cases against Comey - which Halligan brought before a grand jury just days after her appointment - and James, defense attorneys argued the 120-day period that an interim US attorney is allowed to serve prior to confirmation from the Senate or approval from the district's judges had already expired when Halligan took the position.
This, they said, meant that Halligan's appointment was unlawful.
Currie, in her order, wrote that unlawful appointment should "invalidate" Halligan's actions - including presenting those two indictments to grand juries.
Prosecutors who work under Halligan argued Attorney General Pam Bondi has full authority to appoint whomever she wants to the position as long as they are qualified, and that the 120-day period serves as a sort of check-in system for those interim US Attorneys appointed.
"The implications of a contrary conclusion are extraordinary," Currie wrote of the Halligan appointment. "It would mean the government could send any private citizen off the street - attorney or not - into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the Attorney General gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law."
- CNN
