DC Circuit Court Rules Flynn Case Must Be Dismissed

Justice and the rule of law are precariously on trial in the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. A bizarre 2 to 1 ruling of a panel of that court has stripped a federal trial judge, Emmett Sullivan, of his jurisdiction to determine whether a motion to dismiss a criminal case, that of confessed felon Michael Flynn, should be granted. The majority held, in substance, that Judge Sullivan must rubberstamp the dismissal without an opportunity to evaluate the evidence, the law and the reasons behind the novel request made by a patently corrupt Attorney-General who has demonstrated, on multiple occasions, that his first and only allegiance is to Donald Trump.  

Instead of allowing Judge Sullivan to make an informed decision and then reviewing its correctness on appeal, the majority has rendered meaningless the legal requirement that a dismissal may be obtained only "with leave of the court" and, in an unprecedented departure from normal process, has short-circuited appellate review. The attorney appointed by Judge Sullivan to represent the public interest, a role normally filled but abandoned by the Department of Justice, must immediately seek redress from an en banc panel of all the active judges of the DC Circuit Court. If that body fails to undo the outlandish ruling of the two judges, rendered over a stinging dissent of the third judge, a petition for a writ of certiorari must be filed with the Supreme Court. The outcome will determine whether this nation will continue to adhere to the rule of law or will become an autocracy ruled by a tyrant.