The presiding judge in the case of former national-security adviser Michael Flynn refused to dismiss the case on Thursday, even after a federal appeals court ordered the judge to do so.
U.S. District Court judge Emmet Sullivan issued a petition for an “en banc” hearing of the case before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. If accepted, the case would be reargued for all the judges on the appeals court.
Judge Emmett Sullivan refuses to roll over on DC Circuit Flynn ruling. Asks for En Banc hearing before the Appellate Court. If denied, it likely ends. If accepted, this could go on for some time. pic.twitter.com/SvEn7kJuWl
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 9, 2020
Flynn’s legal team had petitioned the appeals court to force Sullivan to drop the case, after the Justice Department announced it would cease prosecuting Flynn. A three-judge panel on the appeals court agreed that the case should be dropped.
“The panel’s decision threatens to turn ordinary judicial process upside down,” Sullivan’s attorney wrote in the petition released on Thursday. “It is the district court’s job to consider and rule on pending motions, even ones that seem straightforward. This Court, if called upon, reviews those decisions — it does not preempt them.”
The former national-security adviser had initially pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI investigators, but later rescinded his plea.
The DOJ concluded that the FBI interview upon which Flynn’s guilty plea was based, was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”