Former FBI Director James Comey is back before a federal judge Friday. His legal team wants U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington to throw out the newest criminal case filed against him, the third the Justice Department has brought in a little over a year.

The case accuses Comey of breaking the Espionage Act in October 2016. Prosecutors say that while he led the FBI he let staff speak with a newspaper reporter to clear up an earlier report that touched on classified material. That report dealt with a secret surveillance court order that led an email provider to scan its users' messages.

Comey denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers say two separate federal prosecutors' offices looked at the same disclosure years ago and both chose not to bring charges.

A race against the calendar

The heart of Friday's fight is timing. The charge carries a 10-year limit. Prosecutors filed what is known as a criminal information under seal on Oct. 5, the 10th anniversary of the disclosure. That kind of filing skips a grand jury and does not need a judge to find probable cause first.

The defense says that move was not enough. In their view the law calls for an actual indictment before the clock runs out and the information is faulty on its face, so the case is time barred. They want it dismissed outright.

Government lawyers answer that an information can stand in for an indictment in a felony case and that the filing kept the case alive. They also argue that asking to dismiss is premature because no indictment has been returned yet. After an emergency hearing earlier this month the department agreed it would not seek an indictment for 30 days.

Two earlier cases

The first case came in September 2025, when a grand jury in Virginia indicted Comey on a charge of lying to Congress. A judge later dismissed it after finding that the prosecutor who brought it, Lindsey Halligan, had been serving unlawfully.

A second case is still pending in North Carolina. It stems from a beach photo Comey shared of seashells arranged to read "8647," which prosecutors call a threat against the president. Comey's team says the image was never meant that way and has asked the court to dismiss on grounds including vindictive prosecution. That judge has not ruled and has pushed any trial into 2027.

McFadden did not signal before Friday when he would rule on the time limit question.