DOJ Revives Comey Case as Courts Check Its Reach

The Justice Department brought charges against former FBI Director James Comey for the third time in 13 months, while courts on Monday limited other exercises of federal power over a public golf course and California ballots. The cases arrive in the run-up to the Nov. 3 midterm election, with the department pursuing an alleged leak case against a prominent critic of President Donald Trump and seeking to set aside more than 20,000 ballots.

Comey called the prosecution an abuse of the department. “They're back, again. It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to,” he said in a video posted Monday. “I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people.”

The department’s case against Comey

Prosecutors allege Comey willfully mishandled national-defense information in October 2016, leading to information appearing in media reports. Court documents filed earlier in October and unsealed Monday say he “knowingly and willfully communicated, delivered, transmitted, and caused that information to be communicated, delivered, and transmitted to a person not entitled to receive it,” despite reason to believe the information could injure the United States or benefit a foreign nation.

The alleged communications took place on or about Oct. 4 and 5, 2016, when prosecutors say Comey directed FBI staff to speak with The New York Times “about specific accuracy concerns” regarding “misinformation which had appeared” in a Reuters report about Yahoo's cooperation with U.S. surveillance. Prosecutors say he “illegally transferred classified information.”

The Times reported that Yahoo had adapted its email-filtering system, used to detect spam, malware and child sexual abuse material, to comply with a secret surveillance order. The system searched messages for a computer “signature” associated with communications by a foreign, state-sponsored terrorist organization. The Times said the Justice Department obtained the order from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge in 2015 and barred Yahoo from disclosing it.

A Times spokesperson said the newspaper “does not comment on the sourcing behind our reporting,” and added that prosecutions like this one were designed to discourage sources from giving journalists information the public needed to know. Comey's lawyers said the alleged leaks had been investigated in 2017 and 2019 without charges. They argued prosecutors missed the 10-year statute of limitations.

Prosecutors filed a criminal information under seal on Oct. 5 in Federal District Court in Washington. The filing did not require grand jury approval or a judicial finding of probable cause, and prosecutors had not obtained an indictment.

Courts put limits on official power

The latest case follows earlier charges and legal battles. The Justice Department indicted Comey in September 2025 over allegations he made false statements to Congress in 2020 about alleged media leaks. A federal judge dismissed those charges in November, finding prosecutor Lindsey Halligan had been unlawfully appointed.

In April, prosecutors indicted Comey over an Instagram photograph of seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach to spell “86 47.” They said it was intended as a threat “to kill” Trump, the 47th president. Comey deleted the post after backlash, said he did not intend a threat and understood the numbers as a “political message.” That case was scheduled for trial in North Carolina in February 2027.

On Monday, a federal judge in New York ruled the Justice Department unlawfully fired Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, in July 2025. The judge ordered her retroactive reinstatement with back pay, concluding the administration violated the Constitution and federal law by claiming the president had authority to fire civil servants.

At East Potomac Park in Washington, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes barred the Trump administration from cutting, damaging or impairing more trees without first obtaining a court order. The order also limited closing the course without notice. Reyes halted work for the time being after clashing with Justice Department lawyers in a challenge brought by preservation advocates and local golfers to President Donald Trump's plan to remake the public golf course.

Ballots caught in the power struggle

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the Justice Department's emergency request to make California set aside more than 20,000 ballots the administration said were linked to likely noncitizens. The 2-1 panel said the department had not given the lower court adequate time to consider the request. It did not decide the underlying merits, leaving the case pending in district court.

Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez wrote that the government sought to dictate a matter in a state's traditional domain. Judge Mark J. Bennett said the administration had not presented a workable plan to segregate the ballots without potentially catastrophic consequences for California's election. Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented. A district court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

TIME also reported that the Justice Department had recently pursued investigations or indictments against other prominent Democrats. It secured a search warrant for Rep. Ilhan Omar's home earlier in October; Omar called it “the latest escalation in [Trump's] campaign of political intimidation.” The department also indicted Virginia Senate Leader Louise Lucas on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Lucas denied the allegations and said she would fight an attempt by “people in power ... to silence those who stand up to them.”