The DC circuit of appeals has given more life to the crusade against Flynn by the corrupt Judge Sullivan by refusing to drop the Flynn case:
The Democrat majority on the D.C. Circuit refused to grant Flynn/DOJ’s mandamus to dismiss the case against Flynn, refused to strike Sullivan’s appointment of a shadow prosecutor against Flynn, and refused to reassign the case to an unbiased judge. https://t.co/d9103IvVMI
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 31, 2020
Here’s more from Politico:
A federal appeals court has dealt a setback to former Trump White House adviser Michael Flynn, ruling that a district court judge can proceed with a planned hearing on the Justice Department’s attempt to abandon the criminal false-statement case against Flynn.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, voted 8-2 to reject Flynn’s effort to dismiss the case immediately. The court’s ruling Monday also rejected efforts by Flynn to remove District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan from the case for alleged bias.
The new decision effectively overturns a June ruling from a divided three-judge panel, who backed Flynn’s attempt to force an end to the prosecution.
The case appeared to produce acrimony on the powerful, Washington-based appeals court, as judges on each side accused those on the other of unprincipled reversals of some of their positions.
The majority opinion, which was unsigned, noted that the dissenters initially rejected Flynn’s request to have Sullivan’s case reassigned to another judge, but in Monday’s ruling said such a reassignment was merited.
And the dissenters noted that after agreeing to rehear the case at Sullivan’s request, the majority sidestepped the validity of that move by declaring that the broader court decided at its own initiative to take a fresh look at the dispute.
This wasn’t too hard to predict considering that the trajectory of all things seems to be against Flynn. It’s outrageous, but completely predictable.
So what happens next? Here is what Ed Morrissey noted at Hot Air:
So what happens from here? The DoJ and Sidney Powell could appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which probably would prefer not to get involved in this case at all. Andy McCarthy predicted two weeks ago that Flynn and the DoJ would lose on mandamus but otherwise prevail, and the Supreme Court justices might figure that it will happen more quickly without them than with their intervention. Given that neither Powell nor the DoJ actually sought to have Sullivan disqualified — a point brought up instead by the DC Circuit — the Supreme Court isn’t likely to try a split-the-baby compromise by rejecting the writ but disqualifying Sullivan.
Basically, the stage is set for Sullivan’s circus … and then his eventual submission to the DoJ, with parting shots at Flynn and William Barr. This is still a prosecution without a prosecutor, and a guilty plea without a crime. The tenor of this opinion is such that anything else from Sullivan is likely to get shot down no matter which three jurists end up hearing the appeal, a subtext that Sullivan can’t possibly miss in all of the talk about speculative harms rather than actual damage done by Sullivan’s proposed process. The quickest path out of this quagmire for everyone is to bite lips and proceed full speed ahead through it.
I hope Morrissey is wrong about the Supreme Court, but even if they did want to get involved it’s a crapshoot these days with Roberts playing the part of the judge how likes to flip flop the most.