Alan Dershowitz: Comey May Have Overstepped His Authority

Renowned lawyer and professor Alan Dershowitz penned an op-ed piece for The Hill in which he says James Comey reached the correct conclusion in Hillary Clinton's email scandal, but that the FBI Director might have exceeded his authority getting there.

"[Comey] was certainly correct in his ultimate recommendation. The evidence in this case, as he described it, would not have justified a criminal prosecution," Dershowitz wrote. "There is simply no precedent for indicting a former secretary of state for carelessness, even extreme carelessness."

However, Dershowitz identified four curious statements the FBI director made that suggest Comey overstepped his bounds:

• The FBI is an investigative agency; it does not make prosecutorial decisions like Comey outlined Tuesday.

• It's rare and highly unusual for an FBI director to articulate opinions — Comey called Clinton "extremely careless" — about the behavior of a subject.

• Comey was obtuse in his "verbal formulation" of whether emails where classified or not.

• Comey implied that some Clinton aides might lose their security clearance over this; again, out of the FBI's purview.

So though Dershowitz lauds Comey as honorable and is comfortable with the outcome, he is uncomfortable with the power wielded by someone with the job title of FBI director.

"We must all ask ourselves the question whether we would trust another [longtime FBI Director J. Edgar] Hoover to make the kinds of decisions the Comey has made in this case," Dershowitz concluded.

"If the answer to that is 'no,' then we must consider structural changes that would prevent a future J. Edgar Hoover from exercising the kind of power exercised by James Comey in this case."

Related Stories:

• Paul Ryan: Comey Will Be Asked to Testify on Clinton Email Probe
• NY Times: Clinton 'Censured' By FBI Over Email Use