Unfortunately for Judge Sullivan, there is a DC Circuit decision that is binding on him and requires him to grant the motion to dismiss.
Sol Weisenberg, the Raleigh NC based attorney who appears on the Laura Ingraham show, discussed this tonight. The case is styled United States v. Fokker Services B.V., 818 F.3d 733 (D. C. Cir. 2016). The opinion was written by Circuit Judge Sri Srinavasan, an Obama appointee; the other two members of the panel were both Reagan appointees and currently have “senior” status, Laurence Silberman and David Sentelle. Here is the link in case you would like to read this:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/15-3016/15-3016-2016-04-05.html
I’ll bet you that the former US District Judge Gleason who stuck his nose into this case and is Sullivan’s court appointed “amicus curiae” will be heading for the exits once he reads this case.
The only reason the judge can lawfully invoke to deny the government’s motion to dismiss is if the defendant objects to the government’s motion, which is definitely not the case here. Also, if the judge denies the government’s motion to dismiss, the defendant has a remedy at the DC Circuit, and that is to file a petition for the issuance of a writ of mandamus, which if granted, will order Sullivan to dismiss the case.
Fokker is interesting in how law can become a double-edged sword. Here, an Obama judge wrote about how the executive branch (controlled at the time by B. Hussein Obama II) basically holds all the cards in a criminal prosecution, and the judge’s role is essentially ministerial in nature, with no right to demand that the case be prosecuted.
Excellent summary