A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney-General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to target Trump’s political opponents. It also highlights its legal manoeuvring to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

The orders make Lindsey Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the manner in which they were appointed. Both defendants had asked for the cases to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that the Justice Department would not be able to bring them again. But the judge instead dismissed them without prejudice, though it was not immediately clear if or how the Justice Department might attempt to revive the prosecutions.