Both Republicans will now advance to the April 1 special election, where they are expected to be heavy favorites in the solid GOP districts.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had agreed not to make the special counsel's findings public while the Justice Department appealed a judge's dismissal of the case.

U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne asked the appeals court to dismiss the classified documents case in a way it could not be appealed again.

The Justice Department has moved to drop its criminal prosecution of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican who resigned last year after a conviction on charges that he lied to the FBI. Fortenberry’s conviction by a federal jury in Los Angeles in 2022 was subsequently overturned by an appeals court that ruled he should have been tried in Kansas or Washington,