A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The judge concluded that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

The orders make Lindsey Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the manner in which they were appointed.

Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, was appointed after a different interim U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, was effectively forced out amid pressure from the Trump administration to file charges against Comey and James.

The rulings are a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to target the president's political opponents. It also highlights the administration's legal maneuvering to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

Both defendants had asked for the cases to be dismissed with prejudice so that the Justice Department would not be able to refile, but the judge dismissed them without prejudice.

It was not immediately clear if or how the Justice Department might attempt to revive the prosecutions.