If you’re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here’s a look at the week’s criminal law news.
Halligan, James, and Comey. The Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The answer to that question will have implications in the cases of former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, among others. Mr. Comey still faces charges in the Eastern District of North Carolina in the case involving a photograph of seashells arranged to say “86 47,” an alleged threat against the President. This week, Comey moved to continue the trial date for that charge from next month to the February 2027 term of court.
New SCOTUS Term dropping soon. We’re just weeks away from the start of the Supreme Court’s October 2026 Term. SCOTUSblog notes the many criminal cases on the docket—and argues that, in light of the many circuit splits involving criminal law and procedure, there ought to be even more. Among the interesting cases about to come before the Court:
- Viramontes v. Cook County, in which the Court will consider “[w]hether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.” The answer may turn on whether the relevant Second Amendment test requires looking at weapons that were in common use at the time the amendment was adopted, or are in common use today;
- Kian v. Florida, where the question before the Court will be whether the Sixth Amendment requires a 12-person jury in a serious criminal case; and
- Jouppi v. Alaska, in which the Court will consider whether—to oversimplify the case—the forfeiture of a $95,000 plane for transporting a six-pack of beer was an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment.
I imagine we’ll write more about some or all of those cases as time goes by.
New leadership at IDS. We’ve noted in previous posts that Mary Pollard was stepping down as the executive director of the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services. This News Roundup item can’t add much to the Friend of the Court Award—the Judicial Branch’s highest honor—recently given to Mary by the Chief Justice, but that won’t stop me from trying: Congratulations Mary, and thank you for your tireless service and leadership.
Taking the helm at IDS is Whitney Fairbanks. Whitney has worked at IDS for over a decade as Assistant Director and General Counsel. In addition to time as a trial lawyer and in the Office of General Counsel at the AOC, Whitney was our colleague at the School of Government from 2008 to 2013. Good luck, Whitney!
Hourly rate increase. Speaking of IDS, the IDS Commission recently voted for an across-the-board rate increase for private assigned counsel, effective October 1, 2026. The rate for misdemeanors will increase from $65 to $85 an hour. Low-level felonies will go from $65 to $90 an hour. More details are here.
Mastermind. Finally, a man named Siddharth Jawahar was sentenced in federal court this week for his role in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 60 victims, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Prosecutors argued that Jawahar used money from new investors to pay off old investors—and to pay for luxury apartments, private jet travel, and other champagne problems. The name of Jawahar’s main investment company? Swiftarc Capital LLC. A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri reads like a question from the bar exam: “After his indictment, Jawahar tried to obstruct justice by trying to coach a victim into giving a favorable statement to the FBI, lying about his immigration status and finances and trying to get his sister to remotely wipe his iPhone to hide evidence.” No word on a getaway car. Jawahar won’t be fresh out the slammer any time soon: he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a total of $31 million in restitution to victims. I hesitate to joke too much about the situation—fraud crimes like this are a scourge, as many know all too well. But to the extent that the impact is financial, the Kelces are probably better positioned than most newlyweds to weather the storm.
Have a good weekend.
