Posted on 06/01/2020 2:47:35 PM PDT by Libloather
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan should not be required to act as a mere rubber stamp for the governments unusual move to undo the guilty plea of President Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the judges lawyers told a federal appeals court in Washington on Monday.
Sullivans attorneys asked the appeals court to stay on the sidelines to give the judge an opportunity to ensure the integrity of the judicial process and to rule on the Justice Departments request to dismiss Flynns case.
The judge must evaluate Flynns dramatically different claims, Sullivans lawyer Beth Wilkinson told the court: What, if anything, should Judge Sullivan do about Mr. Flynns sworn statements to the court, where he repeatedly admitted to the crime and to the voluntariness of his guilty plea, only to now claim that he never lied to the government and was pressured and misled into pleading guilty?
The filing from Sullivan, defending his investigation into the Justice Departments reversal, is the latest development in the extraordinary case. It comes after Flynns lawyers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to immediately order Sullivan to get rid of the matter and accused him of bias.
The Justice Department joined Flynn in a separate filing Monday urging the appeals court to quickly bring the case to a close. The executive branch, not the judiciary, has the power to decide when - and when not - to prosecute potential crimes and Sullivan cannot independently initiate criminal charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Flynn is not the only innocent person who accepted a plea bargain rather than being crushed by the federal juggernaut.
Now one branch of the government has to punish people for surrendering to the hopelessly superior, sometimes corrupt, force of another branch?
to do what?Impeachment is, constitutionally, reserved to the House of Representatives by majority vote. Conviction would be by a 2/3 vote of the Senate, but the Republicans are a minority in the House. So you should be paging Nancy Pelosi. Much good that is likely to do.
Lol, forgot about that detail. Thanks for the correction!
Late to this thread here but if the good Judge feels like he does not have to adhere to the law then the DOJ or the Executive do not have to comply with whatever sentence he might decide to impose on Gen Flynn. The case could easily be vacated.
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