Although he granted the federal government’s request to drop the case, the judge harshly criticized its reasoning in seeking the dismissal.

Judge Dale E. Ho refused to let the government leave open the prospect of reinstating charges against the mayor. But he acknowledged the president’s power to determine the fate of prosecutions.

Judge Dale Ho dismissed the corruption indictment against Eric Adams with prejudice, meaning charges cannot be revived.

U.S. District Court Judge Dale Ho dropped the case with prejudice, meaning the mayor cannot be tried again on the same charges.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' historic federal corruption case has been dropped with prejudice, meaning Adams cannot be re-tried on the same charges at a later time.

Ho could have tried to stretch the limits of his own authority: decline to dismiss the case, and try to appoint a prosecutor to continue pursuing the charges. That would be fraught, with invite an immediate appeal, and would be unlikely to succeed.

The Trump DOJ sought to dismiss the case against the Democratic mayor “without prejudice,” meaning it wanted the option to revive the case in the future.

Federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were dismissed, as requested by Trump's Justice Department

A federal judge dismissed the charges at the request of the Justice Department, which had argued that the case distracted from Adams' ability to enact Trump's immigration agenda.