Desiree Fairooz, 61, who was associated with the group Code Pink, had been convicted of disorderly and disruptive conduct and demonstrating inside the Capitol. Fairooz was taken into custody during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January after she laughed when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) claimed Sessions had a clear and well-documented record of treating all Americans equally under the law. (The Senate rejected Sessions nomination for a federal judgeship in the 1980s over concerns about his views on race.)

But Chief Judge Robert E. Morin of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia tossed out the guilty verdict on Friday because the government had argued that the laugh alone was enough to warrant the verdict.

Morin said it was disconcerting that the government made the case in closing arguments that the laughter in and of itself was sufficient.

The court is concerned about the governments theory, Morin said. He said the laughter would not be sufficient to submit the case to the jury, and said the government hadnt made clear before the trial that it intended to make that argument.