A federal judge on Thursday disqualified a U.S. attorney in upstate New York and tossed out subpoenas he issued to state Attorney General Letitia James.

In a 24-page ruling, Judge Lorna Schofield, an Obama appointee, ruled that John Sarcone has been unlawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. 

“When the Executive branch of government skirts restraints put in place by Congress and then uses that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, it acts without lawful authority,” Schofield wrote. 

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“The subpoenas are unenforceable due to a threshold defect: Mr. Sarcone was not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when the subpoenas were issued,” the judge wrote.

James challenged Sarcone’s authority after he issued subpoenas seeking information about lawsuits she filed against President Donald Trump. She claimed he had committed fraud in his business dealings, and separately against the National Rifle Association and some of its former leaders, The Associated Press reported.

James has claimed that the subpoenas were part of a campaign over her investigations into Trump allies. 

“This decision is an important win for the rule of law and we will continue to defend our office’s successful litigation from this administration’s political attacks,” a spokesperson for James’ office told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to James and the Justice Department on the judge’s subpoena decision. 

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The DOJ contends that Sarcone was properly appointed and that his subpoenas were valid. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days. When that term expired, a federal court declined to extend his tenure.

“On the same day that the judges declined to extend Mr. Sarcone’s appointment, the Department took coordinated steps – through personnel moves and shifting titles – to install Mr. Sarcone as Acting U.S. Attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround,” the ruling states. 

Federal judges have also disqualified prosecutors in Nevada, the Los Angeles area and Virginia.

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Lindsey Halligan’s dismissal as Virginia’s top federal prosecutor resulted in the tossing of indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey.

On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Halligan to explain why she continues to call herself the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite another judge in November determining that she was unlawfully appointed to the role.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s stalled tax shift bill will be taken up by the state Senate Thursday for the first time since it was killed there more than a year ago, but this time as an amendment filed for an alternate Senate-led tax relief proposal.

State Sen. Michael Rush, a Boston Democrat, filed an amendment to state Sen. William Brownsberger’s property tax shock bill that mirrors the language included in a home rule petition the mayor has been pushing for nearly two years that would shift more of the city’s tax burden from the residential to commercial sector.

“Property tax relief is a pressing issue for my constituents — and residents throughout the state,” Rush said Monday in a statement to the Herald. “On behalf of the people of Boston, I have filed the home rule petition passed by the Boston City Council to provide property tax relief for Boston residents.

“As the Senate considers several worthy proposals designed to address affordability in the Commonwealth, I am glad this proposal will be part of the discussion,” Rush said.

Wu’s office told the Herald Saturday that the mayor had requested the amendment.

“Every senator has the opportunity to submit amendments related to these bills by Monday, and we have asked Boston’s senators to offer an amendment with our residential tax relief language that has been vetted thoroughly and never received a vote,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement. “We are following closely and hope the final bills will include this needed relief for residents.”

Wu has said her legislation is aimed at lowering the 13% tax hike the average single-family homeowner is projected to face this year. Third-quarter tax bills went out to homeowners earlier this month.

The mayor’s bill seeks to shift more of the city’s tax burden onto commercial property owners, beyond the 175% state limit, for a three-year period.

It is set to be debated, along with several other amendments that have been filed by senators for Brownsberger’s property tax shock bill, at Thursday’s session.

“All amendments filed by members of the Senate will be considered by the full body during our session on Thursday,” a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka’s office said Monday in a statement to the Herald.

A vote is expected on the bill and underlying amendments on the same day, according to state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat whose alternative tax relief bill and amendments will also be considered.

Collins, who opposes the tax shift element of the mayor’s home rule petition and helped lead the push to kill it on the Senate floor in late 2024, has put forward a bill and amendments that include other elements of what Wu has proposed.

He’s pushing for tax rebates for low- and middle-income homeowners who already receive the residential tax exemption by using surplus funds, along with senior, veterans and small business tax relief provisions.

“I think that the relief measures are positive in terms of the amendments that I and others have filed that are relief in nature or relief options, but I think anything that involves a tax increase is going to be difficult,” Collins told the Herald Monday when asked about the chances for the mayor’s proposal.

“Especially when the city is sitting on $552 million of what they consider to be free cash, it’s hard to make the case that tax increase is necessary,” Collins added.

In a statement issued by his office, Collins added that the city’s decision to hike residential property taxes by double-digits “with so much in the City of Boston’s surplus fund” was “unnecessary, unfair and clearly inequitable.”

“To cancel out that tax increase, my legislation would authorize the city to issue direct rebates to homeowners,” Collins said.

He pointed to a similar approach that he said was taken at the state level in 2022, when the governor and legislature issued rebates after tax revenues exceeded the cap established under voter-approved state law, Chapter 62F, which limits the growth of state tax collections.

In terms of Rush’s amendment, Collins said he’s also concerned that the senator’s language would make the mayor’s tax shift bill applicable statewide, rather than just in Boston.