Keri Johnson

NPR's Keri Johnson has more.

The Trump administration installed Lindsey Halligan as U.S.

attorney in Virginia in late September, soon after the prosecutor already in that job expressed doubts about moving forward with charges against prominent critics of President Trump.

Now, federal judges found Halligan's appointment defective under the Constitution.

The ruling means that indictments Halligan won against the former FBI director and the sitting New York Attorney General are dismissed for now.

The Justice Department has the option to appeal and could try to revive both cases.

Lawyers for Jim Comey and Tish James are challenging the indictments on several other grounds.

Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

We just got a filing from the special counsel, Jack Smith, suggesting the process of unwinding these cases has begun. They asked the judge in Washington, D.C., Tanya Chutkin, to give them until early December to offer a status report or an update because of what they called an extraordinary circumstance.

We just got a filing from the special counsel, Jack Smith, suggesting the process of unwinding these cases has begun. They asked the judge in Washington, D.C., Tanya Chutkin, to give them until early December to offer a status report or an update because of what they called an extraordinary circumstance.

This man who's been facing four felony charges in Washington, D.C., is now the president-elect. And that runs straight into a longstanding DOJ view that you cannot indict or prosecute a sitting president.

This man who's been facing four felony charges in Washington, D.C., is now the president-elect. And that runs straight into a longstanding DOJ view that you cannot indict or prosecute a sitting president.