The Justice Department tried to shove its latest failure into a locked drawer. A judge slammed it shut.

According to a newly revealed court order, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice attempted to keep the Trump administration’s most recent grand jury rejection in the case against New York Attorney General Letitia James impounded and under seal — even though the decision was already public knowledge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter wasn’t impressed.

“The dispositive fact,” Porter wrote, “is that the public already knew about the grand jury’s decision before the government filed its Motion to Seal.” In the era of electronic filing and instant reporting, he added, the effort was “essentially futile.”

The ruling capped a bruising stretch for the DOJ, which has now failed three times to convince a grand jury to indict James on alleged mortgage fraud charges.

The latest attempt went further than the last. According to Politico, prosecutors tried to escalate the case by adding an additional felony false statement charge — a second count accusing James of lying to a financial institution. The grand jury still said no.

The no true bill was returned on Dec. 11. The DOJ waited until the next day to ask the court to prohibit disclosure of the foreperson’s notice and seal the returned documents. By then, the damage was done.

ABC News had already reported the rejection more than 30 minutes before the grand jury even handed up the no bill in open court.

“Because the public already had access to the grand jury’s decision,” Porter wrote, “no basis exists to seal this information now.”

The failed indictment is the latest chapter in a case that has increasingly looked less like law enforcement and more like political trench warfare.

On Nov. 24, James — along with former FBI Director James Comey — succeeded in having a federal indictment dismissed after a court ruled that Bondi unlawfully appointed Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Both defendants argued they were victims of vindictive, selective prosecution driven by President Donald Trump’s desire for revenge.

Then the White House seemed to confirm it.

In a Vanity Fair profile that ricocheted through Washington, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly described the case against James as “the one retribution” — payback for the civil fraud judgment that stripped Trump of nearly half a billion dollars.

James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, seized on the comment.

“When they admit it’s not justice they’re after but pure revenge, believe them,” Lowell said, accusing Trump of turning the Justice Department into a political weapon.

Despite the dismissal, the DOJ pressed on. Over a seven-day span, prosecutors made two more attempts to secure an indictment. Both failed. Then came the third try — more charges, more pressure, same result.

Now the court has refused to help the DOJ hide that result.

The motion to seal was signed by Halligan, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBride, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Keller. It asked the court to impound documents that had already escaped into public view.

Porter wasn’t sympathetic.

The no true bill, he noted, was returned on the record. The government’s delay made secrecy impossible.

Three grand juries. Three rejections. One failed attempt to close the curtain after the show was already over.

The DOJ wanted silence. The court delivered daylight.