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Home Front: Politix
Judge Sullivan Delivers Response in Flynn Case and It’s Something
2020-06-03
[RedState] Judge Emmet Sullivan has delivered his response in the Michael Flynn case to the writ of mandamus. He tapped an outside attorney to make his case for him, something that is apparently highly unusual under these circumstances, where both parties are asking for a dismissal after new evidence of FBI malfeasance came to light. If this judge can’t make his own arguments and decisions, why is he on the case?

Undercover Huber broke down much of what’s in it earlier today. I’m not a lawyer and won’t play one, but there’s a lot in here that strikes me as ridiculous.
Long Twitter thread at the link laying out Undercover Huber’s analysis.
The idea that Sullivan can delay justice yet again without causing any harm is ludicrous. Lawyers aren’t free, nor is the emotional toll Flynn is being put through. The repeating of MSNBC conspiracy theories and claiming to want to do something (debate the declaration of innocence in court) he’s already denied earlier are nice touches for the judge.

We’ll see where this goes. I suspect Sullivan is simply trying to save face at this point. In the end, he’ll grant the motion or he’ll get slapped down from above. Either way, Flynn is going to go free, as he should.
Related:
Emmet Sullivan: 2020-05-31 James Howard Kunstler - 'The Unspooling'
Emmet Sullivan: 2020-05-23 So, Is That How the Special Counsel Office Avoided Turning Over the FBI's 302 Report to Flynn's Lawyers?
Emmet Sullivan: 2020-05-21 More than 1,100 former U.S. prosecutors slam attempt to drop Flynn charges
Posted by:trailing wife

#9  /\ An 'implied order', as opposed to a 'specified order' (mil terminology). Excellent point TW.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-06-03 10:02  

#8   Very likely taking orders from someone.

When one is in sync with the zeitgeist, there is no need for the giving and receiving of orders. A laughing comment tossed off by someone when the group gathers for their regular after-work drinkiepoo more than suffices to achieve alignment of understanding.
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-06-03 09:58  

#7  I see little evidence of investigative rigor or original thought. Very likely taking orders from someone. Just curious.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-06-03 08:44  

#6  An "Obamanation" of justice.
Posted by: JohnQC   2020-06-03 08:41  

#5  Judge Sullivan ripped the judicial mask off, and what's behind it is ugly
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-06-03 06:50  

#4  ^I've an answer, but it's racisss.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-06-03 06:44  

#3  If this judge can't make his own arguments and decisions, why is he on the bench?
Posted by: Clem   2020-06-03 06:42  

#2  In Appellate Brief, DOJ Unloads On Behavior Of Rogue Judge In Flynn Case
The Department of Justice on Monday unloaded on the antics of the rogue federal judge overseeing the Michael Flynn trial, accusing him of usurping the constitutional authority of the executive branch to make prosecutorial decisions and ignoring both statutory law and federal court precedent requiring him to dismiss the case against Flynn.

After Judge Emmet G. Sullivan refused to grant the unopposed DOJ motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn after the government unearthed and relevant reams of evidence that the government had abused its power and unlawfully targeted Flynn, Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell filed a writ of mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking it to order the trial court to dismiss the charges against Flynn. The appellate court ordered Sullivan to respond by close of business on June 1 and invited DOJ to file its own response as well.

In a sign of how important DOJ views the underlying constitutional issues in the case, the formal brief to the appellate court wasn’t just signed by the line attorney managing the government’s case. Instead, it was signed by Noel J. Francisco, the Solicitor General of the United States who is tasked with representing the U.S. government in the most important appellate cases across the country; Brian A. Benczkowski, the Assistant Attorney General and head of DOJ’s entire criminal division; Deputy Solicitors General Jeffrey B. Wall and Eric J. Feigin; assistants to the Solicitor General Frederick Liu and Vivek Suri; Michael R. Sherwin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Kenneth C. Kohl, the acting Principal Assistant United States Attorney for D.C.; and Jocelyn S. Ballantine, the line prosecutor handling the Flynn case at trial.

“The Constitution vests in the Executive Branch the power to decide when—and when not—to prosecute potential crimes,” DOJ argued in its brief. Rules of federal criminal procedure, cited by Sullivan in support of his gambit to appoint himself both judge and prosecutor in the inquisition against Flynn, “do[] not authorize a court to stand in the way of a dismissal the defendant does not oppose, and any other reading of [those rules] would violate both Article II and Article III” of the constitution, DOJ wrote.

“Nor, under the circumstances of this case, may the district court assume the role of prosecutor and initiate criminal charges of its own,” the brief continued. “Instead of inviting further proceedings the court should have granted the government’s motion to dismiss.”

In their brief to the appellate court detailing the facts of the Flynn case, Francisco and the other DOJ attorneys noted that prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) ambush interview of Flynn on January 24, 2017, “the FBI identified no ‘derogatory information’ about petitioner and determined that he ‘was no longer a viable candidate’ for investigation.”
Posted by: Frank G   2020-06-03 04:06  

#1  The idea that Sullivan can delay justice yet again without causing any harm is ludicrous.

A few years ago, a story of what happened to Flynn would be considered a ridiculous & paranoid right-wing fantasy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-06-03 02:39  

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