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What happened

A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday permanently dropped all charges against the four remaining “Broadview Six” anti-ICE demonstrators. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros requested the controversial, high-profile case be dismissed after a “stunning hearing that revealed apparent misconduct” by his office’s prosecutors, the Chicago Sun-Times said. The “rare federal trial for misdemeanor charges” had been slated to start next week, CBS News said.

Who said what

U.S. District Judge April Perry told Boutros she was “incredibly shocked” by the “prosecutorial behavior” in the grand jury proceedings, according to transcripts of the closed hearing. Boutros acknowledged the errors, said he didn’t think it was “deliberate misconduct,” then defended charging the defendants for protesting outside the Broadview detention center during last year’s “Midway Blitz” deportation campaign. Perry told him he was “significantly undercutting” his “mea culpa here by standing behind the charges and continuing to vilify these particular defendants.”

What next?

Perry “said she plans to consider possible sanctions against the prosecutors,” The Wall Street Journal said. “Federal judges don’t talk like this unless it’s REALLY bad, and it is,” former federal litigator Ken “Popehat” White said on social media. “Heads should roll. Careers should end.”