A federal judge has been assigned to preside over the case against fired FBI Director James Comey following new charges filed by the Justice Department.
U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan of the Eastern District of North Carolina will oversee the proceedings. Flanagan was appointed by former President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in July 2003.
Judge’s Background
Flanagan previously served as a federal magistrate judge before her appointment to the district court. She worked at the law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Washington, D.C., before it merged with Dentons.
Throughout her tenure as an Article III judge, Flanagan has presided over thousands of cases. She is considered right-leaning by political observers, according to Ballotpedia.
The Charges Against Comey
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the indictment resulted from a year-long investigation, describing it as far more extensive than public perception. “Every case requires an investigation, and what you just showed is one part of that investigation,” Blanche told Fox News.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have also revived an investigation into whether Comey illegally leaked classified information to media contacts, according to two people familiar with the matter. This marks a third active criminal investigation against the former FBI director.
Additional Investigations
The Virginia inquiry centers on disclosures that formed the basis of a May 2017 story about Russia-related matters. The Justice Department has not yet decided whether to seek an indictment in Virginia, where Comey resides, or shift the case to New York.
Sources described active meetings in recent weeks between Blanche’s office and prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia. The department continues reviewing whether to pursue charges in the classified information matter.
Legal Precedent
The case carries implications for Comey’s defense strategy regarding his memos. If the current Justice Department and intelligence community designate the documents as classified, Comey’s argument that the memos were never classified would be undermined by legal precedent.
This standard was established in the earlier Mar-a-Lago documents case handled by special counsel Jack Smith. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that classification status is determined by the executive branch’s national-security apparatus.