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ARTICLE · 19 FEBRUARY 2026

Grand Juries: No Longer A 'Rubber Stamp'

Ballard Spahr LLP
Ballard Spahr LLP
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Ballard Spahr LLP

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In our previous Alert on this topic, we discussed an early round of federal grand jury "no-bills," in which jurors declined ...

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Henry E. Hockeimer
Henry E. Hockeimer
Brad Gershel
Brad Gershel
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Summary

In our previous Alert on this topic, we discussed an early round of federal grand jury "no-bills," in which jurors declined to return indictments sought by prosecutors. What initially appeared to be isolated outcomes now looks more like the beginning of a pattern. Recent grand jury decisions refusing to indict in several high-profile political matters—including proposed charges against six Democratic lawmakers and New York Attorney General Letitia James—suggest a structural shift in the federal charging process. Taken together, these results indicate that, amid reports of weakened internal Department of Justice (DOJ) vetting for politically sensitive cases, grand juries are increasingly operating as a meaningful check on prosecutorial overreach, filtering questionable cases before a formal prosecution ever begins.

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