The collapse of the Justice Department's cases against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James offered a stark lesson: Turning the DOJ into an instrument of political payback requires legal competence, not just loyalty.

Why it matters: The dismissals represent a big blow to President Trump's push to exact revenge on political enemies. The Justice Department's tactics — replacing career prosecutors with inexperienced loyalists — have created a dysfunctional legal apparatus that has been unable to make its cases stick. • The court order comes as the Justice Department faces a broader crisis: an estimated 5,500 career staff have left since January, according to Justice Connection, a group tracking departures. Over 200 others have been fired, according to

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