A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

 

The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to target Trump’s political opponents as well as its legal maneuvering to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

 

But Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker says that the Justice Department plans to appeal immediately.

 

“The initial appeal would go to a Richmond, Virginia-based, federal appeals court, but it could also reach the Supreme Court in a fresh test of constitutional authority,” Tucker said.

 

The Justice Department may also seek to refile the cases, which would be more complicated in the Comey case than the James case.

 

“The Comey case is slightly more complicated, and that's because the statute of limitations for his case is five years, and it would have appeared to have run back in September, just days before the indictment was filed,” Tucker said.