Judge Sullivan Finally Responds To Mandamus Petition In Flynn Case, Proving Why It Was Necessary

1. Whether the D.C. Circuit will grant mandamus and direct Sullivan (or, more properly, another judge to whom the case is reassigned) to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn is unknown.
2. Rather than grant that motion, however, Sullivan appointed retired federal Judge John Gleeson amicus curiae to argue against dismissing the criminal charge and also to determine whether Flynn should be held in criminal contempt of court.
3. Sullivan, who has presided over the Flynn case since December 2017, was ordered by the federal appellate court to respond to Flynn’s previously filed petition for a writ of mandamus.
4. Whether the D.C. Circuit will grant mandamus and direct Sullivan to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn is unknown.
5. A few days later, Powell filed a petition for mandamus with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — an extraordinary procedure used to force a lower judge to act according to the law — arguing that Sullivan’s denial of the motion to dismiss violated the constitutional separation of powers because the executive branch holds exclusive power to decide when to prosecute cases and when to dismiss them.
6. Flynn sought the writ of mandamus after federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal charge the special counsel’s office had filed against him in late 2017.
7. Judge Emmet Sullivan appeared as unofficial amicus curiae for the Resistance in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Michael Flynn criminal case yesterday.
8. Sullivan also used substantial space repeating the familiar mantra that Flynn had pleaded guilty twice, but then sidestepped the overwhelming evidence indicating Flynn’s plea was involuntary and the result of ineffective assistance of counsel.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/02/judge-sullivan-finally-responds-to-mandamus-petition-in-flynn-case-proving-why-it-was-necessary/