U.S. judge in Flynn case retires, leaving key court vacancy for Biden to fill (Judge Emmet Sullivan)

WP via Seattle Times ^ | 02 04 2021 | Spencer S. Hsu and Ann E. Marimow

[yesthatjallen]

Judge Emmet Sullivan, whose 27-year tenure on the U.S. District Court in Washington helped shape prosecutors’ obligation to disclose evidence in criminal trials and was capped by politically explosive cases involving Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, will retire from full-time duty.

Sullivan notified President Joe Biden by letter Thursday that he will step back April 3, allowing Biden to fill a vacancy on the influential court that oversees the nation’s capital.

“I plan to be as active as always; my colleagues and the courthouse are my extended family and second home!” the judge said in a statement.

Sullivan, who guided generations of judges onto the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and District Superior Court, will take “senior status” and maintain a reduced case load as permitted for federal judges after age 65 based on their age and tenure. He joins a wave of departing veteran U.S. jurists, as partisan fighting over ideological control of the judiciary has expanded to lower-court appointments.

Sullivan, 73, was appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and has presided over his share of scorched-earth partisan battles. He helped keep alive conservative-led open records lawsuits to probe 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state. He more recently presided over the searing political free-for-all in the Justice Department’s abandoned prosecution of Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

SNIP

[VTenigma]

You are serious aren’t you. Let me know how that works out. Most of the people in this country think Biden is president and many think Trump is the devil. Overturning an election based on an E.O. ain’t gunna happen.

[DoodleDawg]

I think this is the second vacancy on the D.C. Circuit that Biden gets to fill. Merrick Garland was on the bench there and he will resign when he becomes Attorney General.

[View from the Cheap Seats]

See you on the other side.

[View from the Cheap Seats]

The election will be proven to be fraudulent. Exactly how Trump will do it is unknown. But he tried through the states, through the courts, and through the House and Senate. They knowingly and willfully certified a fraudulent election. He has all the evidence. Timing is his alone now.