{"id":2631203,"date":"2026-07-17T14:19:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-schedules-hearing-over-james-comey-and-letitia-james-cases\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:20:23","slug":"appeals-court-schedules-hearing-over-james-comey-and-letitia-james-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-schedules-hearing-over-james-comey-and-letitia-james-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court schedules hearing over James Comey and Letitia James cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fappeals-court-schedules-hearing-over-james-comey-and-letitia-james-cases%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2631203&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A federal appeals court will hear arguments on September 15 in Richmond, Virginia, regarding the Trump management&#8217;s effort to restore criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.These cases were dismissed last fall due to improper appointment of a prosecutor.The cases involve allegations of providing false statements and bank fraud, but were dismissed as the prosecutor lacked lawful authority. The Justice Department is seeking to overturn the dismissals, which could allow the prosecutions to proceed under properly appointed prosecutors. The case&#8217;s outcome may influence broader legal questions about the use of temporary prosecutors. Simultaneously occurring, Comey faces a separate indictment in North Carolina related to a social media post allegedly threatening President Trump.The appellate court has not yet announced the judges presiding over the case.Additionally,there are recent leadership changes in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, with veteran prosecutor Theo Stamos appointed as acting U.S. attorney amid ongoing disputes over filling the vacancy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A federal appeals court announced Friday that it will hear arguments on Sept. 15 in Richmond, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/virginia\/\">Virginia<\/a>, over the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\">Trump administration<\/a>\u2019s effort to revive criminal cases against former <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fbi\/\">FBI<\/a> Director <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/james-comey\/\">James Comey<\/a> and New York Attorney General <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/letitia-james\/\">Letitia James<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The development marks the latest escalation in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-justice\/\">Justice Department<\/a>\u2019s fight to revive the cases against Comey and James, which were separately brought by former interim U.S. Attorney<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4426808\/lindsey-halligan-leaves-attorney-post\/\"> Lindsey Halligan<\/a>. A judge dismissed both cases last fall, ruling that Halligan had been unlawfully appointed after the White House stalled on submitting her official nomination to the Senate for confirmation.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4653131\/appeals-court-hearing-date-dismissal-james-comey-letitia-james-cases\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Appeals court sets September hearing over dismissal of James Comey and Letitia James cases<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4653352\/gavin-newsom-hires-abbe-lowell-federal-inquiry-justice-department\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Newsom hires high-profile defense lawyer to help with federal inquiry into him and his wife<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4653246\/gop-feel-secure-todd-blanche-confirmation-kaelan-deese\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Republicans feel more secure about getting Todd Blanche confirmed: Kaelan Deese<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">Former FBI Director James Comey, left, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, right, saw a judge weigh their consolidated effort to dismiss criminal charges against them on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP photos)<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2026\/07\/localimages\/James_Comey_Letitia_James.jpg?w=696&#8243; &#8220;https:><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former FBI Director James Comey, left, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, right, saw a judge weigh their consolidated effort to dismiss criminal charges against them on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet identified the three judges who will hear the appeal. The panel will be disclosed the morning of oral arguments.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton, dismissed the indictments after finding Halligan lacked lawful authority to lead the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Her orders left open the possibility that the Justice Department could seek new charges through a lawfully appointed prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A grand jury <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3825597\/grand-jury-indicts-former-fbi-director-james-comey\/\">indicted<\/a> Comey in September 2025, accusing him of making a false statement and obstructing Congress during 2020 Senate testimony about the disclosure of sensitive information. James was separately indicted one month later after a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3381664\/letitia-james-criminal-referral-trump-administration-mortgage-fraud\/\">criminal referral alleged<\/a> that she committed bank fraud and made false statements to a financial institution in connection with a mortgage on a Norfolk, Virginia, home. Both pleaded not guilty before their cases were dismissed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 4th Circuit consolidated the cases for the limited purpose of deciding whether Halligan had authority to bring them. Currie concluded that Halligan\u2019s appointment violated the federal statute governing interim U.S. attorneys as well as the Constitution\u2019s appointments clause.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The administration has argued the dismissals should be overturned, setting up a high-stakes test of Trump\u2019s use of temporary prosecutors in key federal offices. The 4th Circuit\u2019s decision could determine whether the administration may press ahead with the Comey and James prosecutions or whether it must start over under a prosecutor whose appointment survives legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cases are separate from another criminal indictment against Comey in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/north-carolina\/\">North Carolina<\/a> over an Instagram photograph he posted last summer that showed seashells arranged to read \u201c8647.\u201d A federal grand jury in April indicted Comey on allegations that the post was a serious expression of intent to harm President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?client=safari&#038;rls=en&#038;q=Donald+trump+site%3Awashingtonexaminer.com&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;oe=UTF-8\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">FILE \u2013 Former FBI Director James Comey speaks at the University of Chicago Law School for the 2019 Ulysses and Marguerite Schwartz Memorial Lecture, Oct. 29, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Photo\/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2026\/07\/localimages\/AP25321685238924-2.jpg?w=696&#8243; &#8220;https:><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former FBI Director James Comey speaks at the University of Chicago Law School for the 2019 Ulysses and Marguerite Schwartz Memorial Lecture on Oct. 29, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Photo\/Charles Rex Arbogast)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, a nominee of former President George W. Bush, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4581894\/judge-allows-james-comey-delay-86-47-seashells-trial\/\">has scheduled that trial for Oct. 21<\/a> in New Bern, North Carolina, if the case survives anticipated motions to dismiss. Comey\u2019s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the September argument before the 4th Circuit comes as the Eastern District of Virginia undergoes another leadership change. This week, the DOJ named veteran Virginia prosecutor Theo Stamos the first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, a role that will make her acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4652325\/jack-smith-legacy-under-scrutiny-trump-case-tactics\/\">JACK SMITH\u2019S LEGACY UNDER SCRUTINY AS QUESTIONS MOUNT OVER TRUMP CASE TACTICS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stamos, a former Arlington County and Falls Church commonwealth\u2019s attorney who later served as a top adviser to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, is expected to begin Monday, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260717152048\/https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/07\/16\/justice-dept-taps-veteran-lawyer-lead-virginia-federal-prosecutors-office\/\">according<\/a> to the <em>Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The office has been without a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney for months amid a prolonged dispute between the Trump administration and the district\u2019s federal judges over who can fill the vacancy. Halligan stepped down in January after criticism from U.S. District Judge David Novak, and the judges\u2019 subsequent appointment of James W. Hundley was short-lived after the Justice Department removed him within hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Appeals court to hear Sept. 15 case on Comey, James<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2631204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-collage-t69wvc8p2-1764730007820-e1764730222895.jpg?1765279878&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[7420,10123,51149,33118,32506],"class_list":["post-2631203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-appeals","tag-courts","tag-james-comey","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-letitia-james"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-collage-t69wvc8p2-1764730007820-e1764730222895.jpg?1765279878&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2631203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2631207,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631203\/revisions\/2631207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2631203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2631203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2631203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}