An appeals court added another layer of complexity to the already convoluted mess surrounding the Justice Department’s effort to drop the Michael Flynn case.
Look, I’m no lawyer, but Flynn pleaded f*cking GUILTY! What the hell am I missing here?!?
and Judge Neomi Rao,
an appointee of President Trump’sa complete nut job.
The first person to be sent to jail after we get rid of tRump is BARR!
To be a fly on the wall in Sullivan’s chambers…excoriate, eviscerate,…so many choices.
I would surmise that all Sullivan needs to do is inform Flynn—again—that he has set July 16 as the date on which the merits of Flynn’s dismissal request will be heard.That would satisfy the Appeals Court ruling in the narrowest sense.
It’s called C.O.R.R.U.P.T.I.O.N…
Gosh, some of her opinions she has written have been insanely twisted with the case law she bothered to cite but mostly missing case law as a whole.
The government is going to have to come up with a new facility just cover all the Trump associates and tagalongs that will end up behind bars. On the other hand, there are those caged facilities on the Texas borders. The weather is quite nice there high summer.
The fast-tracking and request for a response from the judge are interesting, and everything Neomi Rao does is tainted, but the question they are asking is the right one.
The question is whether the phrase “leave of court” in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a) allows a judge to open up a request for dismissal the way Sullivan wants to do it.
The leading SCOTUS case on the subject suggests that the rule only intends to protect a defendant from prosecutorial harassment – the repeated filing and dismissal of charges where the defendant wants a trial (and a chance for acquittal).
It turns out that SCOTUS may be wrong. The history of that rule actually related directly to the risk of corrupt prosecutors doing favors for equally corrupt defendants. That history needs to be briefed so SCOTUS will ultimately have the chance to revisit the rule and correct its own erroneous interpretation (if they would do such a thing).
This just starts that process. I think Sullivan’s response (with a little help from Gleeson, perhaps) will be fascinating.
Okay, it’s ad hominem BUT: Judge Neomi Rao, US Court of Appeals for DC , Appointed by Trump, clerked for Clarence Thomas, backed by the Federalist Society, holds seat formerly held by Brett Kavanaugh, yet another GOP nut job. An example of the type of judges that Moscow Mitch is ramming through the Senate.
I wonder if Sullivan rues the day he encouraged Flynn to cooperate some more, and postponed sentencing to enable him to do that? I certainly rue that day.
a) I think you’re 100% correct
b) that’s even worse for the (should be dis-)Barr(-ed) crew
c) chances of this wrapping up before Nov have plummeted
If trump pardons Flynn wouldn’t it end everything except the stink on his pardon?
So, how does Rao keep ending up on these critical cases? She’s brand new, it’s hard to believe that there aren’t minor cases that she could be tossed on to get her up to speed (especially considering how inexperienced she is as a judge). I guess it’s just luck of the draw…bad luck at that.
This request is probably to make sure that all of the bases are covered…there have been several cases where the judges do something that looks like it favors the Trump administration and then they turn around and wallop them for their bad behavior. I don’t see either of the other judges going along with something like this unless there is a real reason to do so…the plea is Sullivan’s to deal with, even if the government withdraws he still has it in his court to decide. The Trump administration is doing something so out of whack, so obviously corrupt, that the judges have to be careful. It’s too bad Sullivan didn’t just throw the book at Flynn when he started dicking around earlier…that’s biting him now that this hand grenade has landed in his lap.
Not only an example, but an exemplar.
Wonder who’s going to appear for the judge. Must be thousands of top-notch lawyers hoping to be asked.
Not entirely, if Trump pardons Flynn, that effectively immunizes him from further Federal prosecution on the charges for which he is pardoned. BUT, it also means that Flynn can be subpoenaed to testify and he will not be able to plead 5th Amendment rights because he will have already been immunized. Should he refuse to testify under this circumstance, or if he lies, he can be charged with contempt and/or perjury
The 3-judge panels are randomly assigned by either the clerk of court’s office or the circuit executive’s office.
Yes, she needs to recuse herself.