Thus Spake Sullivan!

[PoliticalChic]

Not the law, not logic, not rectitude matter when a federal judge decides to substitute his leanings for the law.


“There is a joke lawyers who practice in Federal Court like to tell. Angel Gabriel summons Sigmund Freud in heaven and tells him God is having delusions of grandeur. Freud asks how God can have delusions of grandeur: There is no one grander than Him. To which the Angel Gabriel responded, "he thinks he's a judge."
Alan Dershowitz



1. The insoluble puzzle is how judges get away with this, and the answer is, there is no power to stop them.
A series of essays, written under the name ‘Brutus,’ warned of exactly the situation we find ourselves in today:

“…they have made the judges independent, in the fullest sense of the word. There is no power above them, to controul any of their decisions. There is no authority that can remove them, and they cannot be controuled by the laws of the legislature. In short, they are independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven. Men placed in this situation will generally soon feel themselves independent of heaven itself.”
Brutus, March 20, 1788
Anti-Federalist Papers: Brutus #15



2. And that is why we have “Judge Emmet Sullivan’s outrage over General Michael Flynn’s desire to withdraw his guilty plea, let us just say our eyes are dry. The judge has gone so far as to appoint an ex-judge to recommend whether to charge the general for lying when he pled guilty. As if such pleading guilty to a crime one didn’t commit is all that unusual.

Where’s the logic of Judge Sullivan getting up on his high horse over the idea that someone in his court might move to withdraw a guilty plea? The idea that General Flynn was uncomfortable with his own plea deal can’t be a surprise to the judge. It was already in the air when the judge erupted at the general at a now-infamous hearing in open court back in December 2018.

…. imagine how humiliated Judge Sullivan must feel now. He failed, after all, to see, or unearth, the abuses by the FBI brass and the Special Counsel’s prosecutors. The Justice Department itself beat the judge to the story of the abuses by the Justice Department’s own officers.

That’s the context in which to view Judge Sullivan’s fury over the idea that an Army lieutenant general, who served in combat zones, might crumple in the face of a prosecutorial onslaught and plead to a felony he didn’t commit. Is it true, as General Flynn and various news stories suggested, that prosecutors threatened to pursue the general’s son? Why isn’t Judge Sullivan himself pressing that question?” Judge Sullivan Ignores Shocking Record of False Guilty Pleas



3. One can only conjecture as to who is the greater dunce, Judge Sullivan, or those who claim “I’m extremely very proud of Judge Sullivan for not allowing this kind of corruption in his court. He is not intimidated and tough. This is a slap to the face of Barr’s corruption.
This is a corruption clear and simple by this administration against American justice system to the core.” Judge Sullivan Scrambles For A Lifeline To Bail HIMSELF Out Of Dropped Flynn Case



Flynn was set up by the liar-in-chief, framed by Obama's Deep State, and Sullivan is outraged that he may get out from under the Fascist boot.

 

[Penelope]

Judge Sullivan is a good man. Flynn the serial liar, was not framed. You republicans see to like crooks.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Judge Sullivan is a good man. Flynn the serial liar, was not framed. You republicans see to like crooks.

What lie did Flynn tell?

 

[PoliticalChic]

Judge Sullivan can’t even be consistent.

He used ‘Brady’ to clear a defendant in an earlier case…..now he ignores it.


From the NYSun:

4. "Who was Brady, anyhow? We ask because of the incredible evidence “suggesting,” as the Wall Street Journal puts it, that the FBI withheld exculpatory information from General Michael Flynn when President Trump’s first national security adviser was being maneuvered into the guilty plea that he is now trying to withdraw. The obligation of prosecutors to disclose exculpatory material is called the “Brady Rule.” Hence our question.


It turns out that John Leo Brady was a 25-year-old murderer from Maryland. He entered the pantheon of precedent because of a Supreme Court case called Brady v. Maryland, decided in 1963. Brady and a 24-year-old companion were convicted of murdering a man they knew, William Brooks. The prosecution withheld from Brady’s defense that his companion had not only admitted doing the killing but also that he’d done it alone.

The Supreme Court, in a decision written by Justice William O. Douglas, decided that Brady’s due process right had been violated. It gave him a new sentencing hearing, which spared him the death sentence he was originally given and jailed him for life. Brady eventually was paroled. The precedent, though, has been in use since and the rule has even, in some jurisdictions (including New York) been tightened.



The thing that gets us here is the failure of the liberal press. It has long loved the Brady Rule. The New York Times has been particularly eloquent when it comes to Brady violations by, say, prosecutors in New Orleans. On the 50th anniversary of Brady, the Times backed “open files reform,” under which prosecutors’ files would be generally opened. Yet Brady abuses in the Flynn case have found the liberal papers loath to speak up for their own principles in the Trump era.” The Flynn Case: Liberal Press Fails To Speak Up for Its Own Principles

 

[PoliticalChic]

Sullivan assumes the role of persecutor.....he wants to charge Flynn with a new charge, perjury, for accepting the orders of his original lawyers at Eric Holder's law firm, and agreed to a guilty plea.



5. “Under our constitutional system of separation of powers, the new prosecutor has no standing.... the separation of powers.... allocates the power to prosecute to the executive not judicial branch.

• It makes no constitutional difference that Flynn pleaded guilty — even if his plea was voluntary, which is questionable in light of the threats against his son.
• The Justice Department has the constitutional authority to dismiss a prosecution that it has brought at any time and for any reason, without being second-guessed by the judicial branch.”
• Judge Sullivan: A Prosecutor in Robes

Over thirty years on the bench, one would suppose that Sullivan knew his job, and the Constitution. It seems that he believes that seniority allows him to make up his own rules.

Imagine, sitting this long, and he doesn’t understand how the legal system is supposed to work.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Judge Sullivan is a good man. Flynn the serial liar, was not framed. You republicans see to like crooks.

How was he prosecuted without his being unmasked? Oops! That's unfortunate for your line of thinking, isn't it?

 

[Penelope]

Judge Sullivan is a good man. Flynn the serial liar, was not framed. You republicans see to like crooks.

How was he prosecuted without his being unmasked? Oops! That's unfortunate for your line of thinking, isn't it?

As far as unmasking goes the FBI, DNI, etc did not need to unmask Flynn.

Tramp has given double unmaskings as Obama in his 8 years.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Judge Sullivan is a good man. Flynn the serial liar, was not framed. You republicans see to like crooks.

How was he prosecuted without his being unmasked? Oops! That's unfortunate for your line of thinking, isn't it?

As far as unmasking goes the FBI, DNI, etc did not need to unmask Flynn.

Tramp has given double unmaskings as Obama in his 8 years.

"Unmasking is a practice that allows senior officials to request the names of U.S. citizens caught up in the surveillance of foreign targets. Former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, made dozens of requests during the presidential transition to unmask the identities of U.S. citizens. On Wednesday, the acting director of national intelligence, responding to a request from Sen. Charles Grassley, Ric Grenell, declassified a list of 39 Obama administration officials who made unmasking requests between Nov. 8, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, that yielded Flynn’s name in National Security Agency intercepts.

In addition to former Vice President and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, it includes a number of ambassadors and Treasury Department officials.


Flynn’s name was unmasked in an intercept of his Dec. 29, 2016, call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Former FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Community in 2017 that he ordered the unmasking and shared it with a small group within the intelligence community and Obama administration. That testimony was declassified last week as part of the Justice Department’s motion to drop charges against Flynn for lying to FBI agents in an interview about his call with Kislyak.

Recently declassified documents show that Sally Yates, the deputy attorney general during the presidential transition, learned about that call from Obama himself at an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 5, 2017." Trump unmasks Obama administration’s unmaskers | The Japan Times



And that brings us to who began the Russia Hoax. Hillary did….through the State department, and Alexander Downer, to the Obama FBI.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Ever notice how films with the same individual as writer, director and lead actor, are ineluctably terrible?

That is the same with Sullivan choosing to be prosecutor, judge, and jury.



6. “Judge Emmet Sullivan's decision to appoint a retired federal judge to argue against the Justice Department's entirely proper decision to end the criminal prosecution of General Michael Flynn is designed to circumvent the constitutional limitation on the jurisdiction of federal judges.

The Constitution limits this jurisdiction to actual cases and controversies. There must be disagreement between the parties that requires resolution by a judge. If the parties agree, there is nothing for the judge to decide.

In the Flynn case, the prosecution and defense both agree that the case should be dropped. Because there is no longer any controversy between the parties to be resolved, there is no longer any case properly before the judge. His only job is to enter an order vacating the guilty plea and dismissing the case with prejudice.

But Judge Sullivan does not want to do that. He apparently thinks Flynn belongs in prison. He has as much as said that. So, he has manufactured a fake controversy by appointing a new prosecutor because evidently he does not like what the constitutionally authorized prosecutor — the Attorney General — has decided. The new prosecutor has been tasked to argue for the result that Judge Sullivan prefers.” Judge Sullivan: A Prosecutor in Robes




“Judge Sullivan is a case study for the need of judicial accountability

There is nothing holding Judge Emmet Sullivan accountable for his actions. Nothing.” Judge Sullivan is a case study for the need of judicial accountability

 

[PoliticalChic]

7. Per the OP: One can only conjecture as to who is the greater dunce, Judge Sullivan, or those who claim “I’m extremely very proud of Judge Sullivan for not allowing this kind of corruption in his court. He is not intimidated and tough. This is a slap to the face of Barr’s corruption.
This is a corruption clear and simple by this administration against American justice system to the core.” Judge Sullivan Scrambles For A Lifeline To Bail HIMSELF Out Of Dropped Flynn Case



Let’s explain to Sullivan and the dunce quoted in the OP, about that thing called the Constitution, and the three branches of government.

“…under our constitutional system of separation of powers, the new prosecutor has no standing to make such an argument. He is not a member of the executive branch, which is the only branch authorized to make prosecutorial decisions. He was appointed by a member of the judicial branch to perform an executive function — a clear violation of the separation of powers, which allocates the power to prosecute to the executive, not judicial, branch.

It makes no constitutional difference that Flynn pleaded guilty — even if his plea was voluntary, which is questionable in light of the threats against his son.

The Justice Department has the constitutional authority to dismiss a prosecution that it has brought at any time and for any reason, without being second-guessed by the judicial branch.

Judge Sullivan is exceeding his authority by turning his courtroom into a three-ring partisan circus, designed to allow him to get his way despite the agreement of the actual parties before him. He is taking judicial activism to a new and grossly improper level, to the disadvantage of a defendant he does not like.”
Judge Sullivan: A Prosecutor in Robes



Just one more example of the sort of political subversion for which the Obamunists are hated.

 

[PoliticalChic]

8. "Judge Sullivan is basing his unconstitutional actions on Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which provides that: "The government may, with leave of court, dismiss an indictment, information, or complaint. The government may not dismiss the prosecution during trial without the defendant's consent." This judge-written rule was designed to protect the defendant against manipulation by the government to circumvent the protection against double jeopardy. It is not properly employed to hurt the defendant by empowering the judge to act as both prosecutor and decision-maker. It rarely if ever results in a judge denying leave to the government to drop a prosecution that it believes is unjustified.



… Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg recently wrote for a unanimous Court:
"Courts are essentially passive instruments..." It is not within their legitimate authority to "sally forth each day looking for wrongs to right." Their role is to "decide only questions presented by the parties."

Judge Sullivan is improperly exceeding that role in the Flynn case and should be chastised for it, whether one agrees or disagrees with the Justice Department's decision on its merits."

Judge Sullivan: A Prosecutor in Robes

In the Flynn case, the prosecution and defense both agree that the case should be dropped. Because there is no longer any controversy between the parties to be resolved, there is no longer any case properly before the judge. His only job is to enter an

www.gatestoneinstitute.org

It is clear what Sullivan is doing, and why he is doing it......and the reasons have nothing to do with law or justice.

 

[task0778]

Political bias is rampant in this country, and unfortunately that includes the Judicial Branch. We see it all the way up to the SCOTUS where so many decisions fall along party lines according to the individual justice's political leanings, and we also see it it so many lower court federal judges that block Trump's executive actions. Which is why it is paramount (to me at least) that Trump wins a 2nd term to continue to fill federal bench positions with judges who will rule as the Constitution dictates without political consideration. And also that the GOP can continue to approve those nominations. There's not much he or we can do about the bias in the media or academia, but I shudder to think of what will happen to this country if a democrat wins the WH and they control the Senate.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Political bias is rampant in this country, and unfortunately that includes the Judicial Branch. We see it all the way up to the SCOTUS where so many decisions fall along party lines according to the individual justice's political leanings, and we also see it it so many lower court federal judges that block Trump's executive actions. Which is why it is paramount (to me at least) that Trump wins a 2nd term to continue to fill federal bench positions with judges who will rule as the Constitution dictates without political consideration. And also that the GOP can continue to approve those nominations. There's not much he or we can do about the bias in the media or academia, but I shudder to think of what will happen to this country if a democrat wins the WH and they control the Senate.

Couldn't agree more.
Unless we can pry the schools from them, as earlier American pried their slaves from them.....America is lost.

Second to that is the media....
Anyone who can predict what a DNC press release will look like, can predict what CNN’s reporting will look like.

 

[task0778]

Well, a couple of points. One, I do not think Sullivan or anyone else is going to press new charges against Flynn. Why? Cuz then his lawyers will be able to call Comey, Strzok, Brennan, and maybe even Obama himself to testify. I'm pretty sure none of them wants to do that. Basically, Sullivan has allowed the bitching by the Left to go on and on, but it also allows the right to point fingers at Sullivan and the anti-Trump retired judge he appointed and also the democrats in general for being the vindictive hypocrites that they are. Two, The Durham investigation is going to come out sometime this summer and it ain't going to look good for those who were involved in this travesty, and there are other related probes going on too. Whoever comes out against Flynn will I think end up with a lot of mud on themselves. Three, I think this continued persecution of a retired General is not going to play well when more information comes out and the whole sordid story becomes public. Far from hurting Trump, this nonsense helps him gain support. Four, I suspect as time goes on, public opinion is not going to favor Sullivan, and he just trashed his own reputation is as a fair-minded and impartial judge, such as it was up to now. What this move does is make more people aware of the bias in our federal judicial system, yet another reason to re-elect Trump so he can appoint more judges to the bench who are less biased.

One more thing: if The GOP retakes the House in November, then Sullivan could find himself the target of impeachment proceedings, or maybe some sort of reprimand. He turns 73 in a couple weeks, one hopes he decides to forego further embarassment and retire.

The Defense Becomes the Prosecution

townhall.com

 

[PoliticalChic]

Not the law, not logic, not rectitude matter when a federal judge decides to substitute his leanings for the law.


“There is a joke lawyers who practice in Federal Court like to tell. Angel Gabriel summons Sigmund Freud in heaven and tells him God is having delusions of grandeur. Freud asks how God can have delusions of grandeur: There is no one grander than Him. To which the Angel Gabriel responded, "he thinks he's a judge."
Alan Dershowitz



1. The insoluble puzzle is how judges get away with this, and the answer is, there is no power to stop them.
A series of essays, written under the name ‘Brutus,’ warned of exactly the situation we find ourselves in today:

“…they have made the judges independent, in the fullest sense of the word. There is no power above them, to controul any of their decisions. There is no authority that can remove them, and they cannot be controuled by the laws of the legislature. In short, they are independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven. Men placed in this situation will generally soon feel themselves independent of heaven itself.”
Brutus, March 20, 1788
Anti-Federalist Papers: Brutus #15



2. And that is why we have “Judge Emmet Sullivan’s outrage over General Michael Flynn’s desire to withdraw his guilty plea, let us just say our eyes are dry. The judge has gone so far as to appoint an ex-judge to recommend whether to charge the general for lying when he pled guilty. As if such pleading guilty to a crime one didn’t commit is all that unusual.

Where’s the logic of Judge Sullivan getting up on his high horse over the idea that someone in his court might move to withdraw a guilty plea? The idea that General Flynn was uncomfortable with his own plea deal can’t be a surprise to the judge. It was already in the air when the judge erupted at the general at a now-infamous hearing in open court back in December 2018.

…. imagine how humiliated Judge Sullivan must feel now. He failed, after all, to see, or unearth, the abuses by the FBI brass and the Special Counsel’s prosecutors. The Justice Department itself beat the judge to the story of the abuses by the Justice Department’s own officers.

That’s the context in which to view Judge Sullivan’s fury over the idea that an Army lieutenant general, who served in combat zones, might crumple in the face of a prosecutorial onslaught and plead to a felony he didn’t commit. Is it true, as General Flynn and various news stories suggested, that prosecutors threatened to pursue the general’s son? Why isn’t Judge Sullivan himself pressing that question?” Judge Sullivan Ignores Shocking Record of False Guilty Pleas



3. One can only conjecture as to who is the greater dunce, Judge Sullivan, or those who claim “I’m extremely very proud of Judge Sullivan for not allowing this kind of corruption in his court. He is not intimidated and tough. This is a slap to the face of Barr’s corruption.
This is a corruption clear and simple by this administration against American justice system to the core.” Judge Sullivan Scrambles For A Lifeline To Bail HIMSELF Out Of Dropped Flynn Case



Flynn was set up by the liar-in-chief, framed by Obama's Deep State, and Sullivan is outraged that he may get out from under the Fascist boot.

"Congratulations are in order to General Michael Flynn and his attorney, Sidney Powell, for filing with the federal appeals court in Washington D.C. an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus. It’s an extraordinary writ — but one of the most venerable in American and Anglo-Saxon law. Their aim, sketched in crystalline prose, is to rescue the general from which the petition calls a “Kafkaesque nightmare.” We certainly wish them luck.

What her petition seeks is an order from the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ordering the district court to grant immediately the government’s motion to dismiss the case against General Flynn, undoing his guilty plea. The filing reprises the way the government entrapped the general and got him to plead guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. And, in fact, for deeds that in the circumstances weren’t a crime.

The petition for the writ of mandamus also takes on the errors of the district judge, Emmet Sullivan, for issuing an order inviting amicus briefs and appointing a former judge to take on the case against the government."

General Flynn Appeals for an End to a ‘Kafkaesque Nightmare’

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

www.nysun.com

 

[PoliticalChic]

"...the judge has taken on the powers of the prosecutor, powers granted by the Constitution to the executive branch. That’s a violation of separated powers. The petition also addresses the district court’s breach of the cases and controversies clauses, via which the Constitution curbs the courts by granting them the power to decide only active cases and controversies.

That limitation on the power of the courts means that once the government moves to drop a case, no case or controversy remains. The courts have no further power to act. Ms. Powell’s petition cites precedent of the District of Columbia Circuit itself and also of the Supreme Court. She cites a recent opinion by an alumna of the circuit now on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That underlines the fact that this is not a left-right issue."
Ibid.

 

[Sunsettommy]

"...the judge has taken on the powers of the prosecutor, powers granted by the Constitution to the executive branch. That’s a violation of separated powers. The petition also addresses the district court’s breach of the cases and controversies clauses, via which the Constitution curbs the courts by granting them the power to decide only active cases and controversies.

That limitation on the power of the courts means that once the government moves to drop a case, no case or controversy remains. The courts have no further power to act. Ms. Powell’s petition cites precedent of the District of Columbia Circuit itself and also of the Supreme Court. She cites a recent opinion by an alumna of the circuit now on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That underlines the fact that this is not a left-right issue."
Ibid.

Notice the total lack of interest by the left in this thread, they don't care about the law, as long as their amoral beliefs is paramount.

As you wrote in post 9:

"In the Flynn case, the prosecution and defense both agree that the case should be dropped. Because there is no longer any controversy between the parties to be resolved, there is no longer any case properly before the judge. His only job is to enter an order vacating the guilty plea and dismissing the case with prejudice."

Sullivan had no legal valid reason to keep this going, now he is going to destroy his career over it, I have to wonder if his head is filling up with tumors...…, in any case it is INEVITABLE he will lose.

 

[PoliticalChic]

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I blame Trump. Had he liquidated the Coup Plotters, I think the remaining seditious traitors would all be treading far more lightly

 

[meaner gene]

1. The insoluble puzzle is how judges get away with this, and the answer is, there is no power to stop them.

If you think the judge is out of control, the power to stop them is right in the text of the constitution.

Have the house impeach the judge (like they did almost a dozen times) and have the senate remove them from office.

If you won't invoke the constitutionally supplied remedy, stop complaining.