WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for the Justice Department to move forward with dismissing a criminal case in which SteveBannon,aninnuential ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted after defying a congressionalsubpoena.

The department`s decision to drop Bannon`s case was one of multiple actions it has taken that have benefited allies and supporters of the Republican president since Trump returned to office last year. Bannon was convicted by a jury in Washington in 2022 on two counts of contempt ofCongress for failing to provide documents or testimony to a Democratic-led House of Representatives panel that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court`s decision to uphold Bannon`s conviction.

Trump`s Justice Department, in urging the Supreme Court to toss the lower court`s decision, told the justices in court papers it has determined that dismissal of Bannon`s case `is in the interests of justice.` The departmentalready had filed a motion to dismiss the case at the trial court level.

After the Supreme Court in 2024 denied Bannon`s request to keep him out of prison while his appeal played out, he served a four-month sentence at a low-security federal facility in Danbury, Connecticut.

M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for Bannon, welcomed the Supreme Court`sactiononMonday.

`It has been one battle after another for five years, but today the Supreme Court vacated an unjust conviction, and in doing so validated a fundamental rule like oiland water, politics and prosecution don`t mix, Corcoran said.

The Supreme Court, in a brief unsigned order, returned the case to the lower court for further consideration `in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment.

The Capitol rioters had tried to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden`s election victory over Trump in his unsuccessful 2020 reelection bid.

Bannon called the House committee`s probe and the charges brought against him by the Justice Department during Biden`s presidency politically motivated.-Reuters