Comey has to recommend indictment, given the evidence, and Lynch has to indict.
If either of them fail to do what the law demands, the government will effectively become illegitimate, and without any authority to function at all.
what do you mean, “will effectively become illegitimate”? It already is.
It now appears that Lynch may have bribed with a promise that Clinton would not replace her.
The FBI doesn't tell the prosecutor what to do. If the FBI finds probable cause a crime was committed, they forward a report to the prosecutor. If the FBI does not find probable cause a crime was committed, it does not forward the results of its investigation. I would guess that most FBI files are never sent to the DOJ.
If the FBI forwards a file to DOJ, that means (without more) that the FBI believes there is probable cause a crime was committed.
That said, I think this case is different. Lynch describes a "team" of both FBI and prosecutors. The same principle applies though. The FBI side of the team provides evidence, the prosecutor side decides whether or not and how to proceed with charging.
-- If either of them fail to do what the law demands, the government will effectively become illegitimate ... --
We're past that point already. Thousands of examples, few of which make the news. The Courts make up stuff to suit social and public policy, Congress long ago abdicated it's role in keeping the executive and courts in check. The government's authority flows from the barrel of a gun.
The government is illegitimate and effectively has no authority at the present time. That does not prevent it from taking power totally and squashing all dissent. Power and Authority are not synonymous.
The government will become the bandidos in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - they don't need no steenking badges!
Just their automatic weapons and their phony "government writs"...
The politicians and bureaucrats, a/k/a, The Ruling Elite/Class consider us, the Citizen, to be nothing more than peons, serfs, slaves, and dirtbags. Not fit to be allowed in their presence without their armed guards nearby. Our sole and only purpose is to work in order to pay the taxes necessary to support their luxurious lifestyle until we die. They ceased regarding us as equals long ago. Also, in their view, the laws, criminal and civil, do not apply to them.