DOJ DECISION TO DISMISS FLYNN CASE ..... WAIT, NOT SO FAST

The Justice Department’s move to drop Michael Flynn’s case is on hold

By Jen Kirby

Vox
May 13, 2020

The case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has taken another strange twist. A week after the Justice Department’s widely criticized move to drop Flynn’s guilty plea, the federal judge in the case has basically said: wait, not so fast.

US District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said Wednesday he will allow others to submit outside arguments on the DOJ’s motion to dismiss Flynn’s 2017 guilty plea for lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. Sullivan said he would set a date to hear these amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs.

This puts Flynn’s status temporarily in limbo, as Sullivan declines to immediately green light the Justice Department’s request. Sullivan doesn’t have a ton of leeway here, but since the circumstances are anything but ordinary, and he does have the ability to press the government on the reasoning for their about-face. Sullivan has not yet scheduled a hearing to listen to arguments from both the prosecution and defense, though it is within his power to do so.

Flynn’s attorneys objected to Sullivan’s move in a court filing. “This travesty of justice has already consumed three or more years of an innocent man’s life—and that of his entire family,” they wrote. “No further delay should be tolerated or any further expense caused to him and his defense. This Court should enter the order proposed by the government immediately.”

It is still unlikely this will ultimately change Flynn’s fate, but it does drag out this more than two-year-old case a little bit longer. And given the politically charged, and bizarre, nature of Flynn’s case, Sullivan is, at least, clearing the way for arguments against the Justice Department’s actions, as criticism for its reversal on the Flynn matter has come from everyone from former federal prosecutors to a former president.