Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick just dropped a legal mic on prosecutors in the James Comey case. In a blistering 24-page opinion, he ordered the Department of Justice to turn over all grand jury materials related to the Comey indictment to the defense. (Though the government has asked for a stay in complying with the order while the file their objections.) Because, despite the Trump administration’s best efforts, due process is still a thing.
And if this seems highly unusual, well, you’re not wrong! But prosecuting your political enemies over the objections of career prosecutors is also highly unusual (or at least it used to be, pre-2025) so that’s where we’ve landed.
Fitzpatrick’s opinion reads like a cold call of a law student who spent the semester playing Fortnite instead of doing the reading. He all but accuses the investigative team of fumbling their way into a constitutional ditch:
“The record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
That is spectacularly harsh judicial language. When a judge says your work “undermined the integrity” of the grand jury, that’s not a critique — that’s a diagnosis.
And the cure? Full disclosure of all the grand jury materials.
Lest anyone miss the severity, Fitzpatrick says the quiet part loud:
“The court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused.”
Judges don’t casually throw around phrases like “tainted the grand jury.” That Fitzpatrick is using the term at all should make DOJ attorneys want to crawl under the table and rethink their career choices. Because “extraordinary remedy”? That’s judge-speak for “you left me no choice.”
Read the full benchslap — the second in the case, it should be noted — below.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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