Friday, July 31, 2020

Appeals Court Will Rehear Michael Flynn Case, A Rare Move After 3-Year Legal, Political Saga

Carolyn Kaster/AP
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has agreed to rehear the case of Michael Flynn, a move that could resume the challenge to the Justice Department's controversial decision to abandon its prosecution of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser.
In a 2-1 decision last month, a three-judge panel from the appeals court ordered U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case against Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to the FBI and later reversed course, claiming he was innocent all along. The ruling was applauded by both Flynn's attorneys and the Justice Department, which has sought to dismiss the case.
The full appeals court on Thursday granted a request from Sullivan to rehear the case and scheduled oral arguments for Aug. 11.
Rehearing a case that had already been ruled on is very rare, a request granted only in proceedings that involve "a question of exceptional importance" and when the court feels the need to "maintain uniformity" in its decisions.
The development is the latest in the Flynn case, which began three years ago as a seemingly straightforward prosecution of a defendant who admitted lying to the FBI but has devolved into a politically fraught and tangled saga that recently pitted one branch of government against another.
LINK: Appeals court will rehear case over Flynn charges
Sullivan, who has been overseeing Flynn's case for three years, had appointed a third party, known as an amicus, to challenge the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the case and to determine whether Flynn had committed perjury for claiming he is innocent of a crime to which he had previously pleaded guilty.
The move set off an unusual legal battle in the appeals court, where both the defense and prosecution wanted to dismiss the case while the presiding judge – himself represented by an attorney – argued he's entitled to scrutinize the Justice Department's motives for dropping the prosecution..
Read the rest of the story HERE.

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