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Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Jonathan Turley Takes Sullivan To Task

Jonathan Turley is a professor at the George Washington Law School. He's a liberal who is increasingly finding himself at odds with other liberals, who seem to care little for the rule of law, for whom ethics is merely a means to an end. Power.

Tonight Turley expressed his disquiet with Sullivan's moves in the Flynn case, in which Sullivan has exhibited a Captain Ahab like fixation on "getting" Flynn. Professor Turley:

Judge Sullivan has now appointed a retired judge to look into “whether the Court should issue an Order to Show Cause why Mr. Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury.” Thus, the court is not only considering denying an uncontested motion for dismissal but [is also] considering a new charge based on Flynn's effort to withdraw his plea.
Consider the implications for many cases where defendants seek to withdraw pleas due to prosecutorial abuse. It would create a threat of a judicial charge even when prosecutors agree with defendants. 
Judge Sullivan was previously criticized for suggesting that Flynn could be charged with treason. He is now allowing third parties to make arguments in a criminal case on an unopposed motion. In addition, he is exploring a charge that he might be able to bring against Flynn.
These extraordinary moves by the court are increasingly discomforting. This is a single charge where significant jail time was neither warranted nor expected. The Court's effort to import arguments and explore new charges could be raised on appeal given the prior record.
[T]here comes a point where the Court appears too invested in the punishment of a defendant and too active in creating alternatives to dismissal. As a criminal defense attorney, I find these moves unnerving, particularly when prosecutorial abuse has been raised by DOJ and others.

24 comments:

  1. At this point, as Flynn's attorney, I would file a motion for Sullivan to be removed from the case for prejudice. I would cite his in-court rantings, his refusal to enforce his own Brady orders, and I would lay the ridicule on thick. Sullivan has acted like a clown and needs to be treated like one.
    What's Sullivan going to do in response? Double-down on his prejudice? That would just be icing on his own clown cake.

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    1. I agree, however I also agree with Undercover Huber that Barr needs to come up with a creative solution as well.

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  2. The last thing Sullivan's ruling has to with is the election calendar.

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    1. I continue to believe that this persecution of Flynn will work heavily against Dems. Nevertheless, I think that consideration should take a back seat to considerations of simple justice.

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  3. First, the Deep State is running out of cards to play with respect to removing Trump or quashing Durham's investigation. Bringing Sullivan in off the bench for a Hail Mary judicial assault smacks of extreme desperation because neither Trump nor Durham seems vulnerable to intimidation.

    Second, Sullivan's runaway train is a huge problem for Roberts because it makes a mockery of the entire Judicial Branch in an ongoing public display of malfeasance. The MSM will never recover from it's fake news reputation damage, and the Judiciary reputation will likely follow them down the tubes if Roberts does not intervene soon.

    Third, the politics of this debacle will not play well for Democrats in the upcoming election cycle. Diehards at both political extremes are unmoved, but the swing voters will move dramatically right the longer this persecution of Flynn continues.

    What Sullivan is doing isn't just wrong, it's stupid.

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    1. I couldn't agree more on each of your points. I do believe Roberts needs to find a way to find a way to intervene, because this is turning into a District Ct. judge facing down the Executive Branch. In the long run that can't work well for our constitutional order, and the Judiciary will be the loser.

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    2. To your point about Roberts and Sullivan, I agree. Roberts seems to (somewhat) been taken in/bullied by the Left. Maybe this will prod him to face the reality of the ugliness behind the Left and that there really are "Trump judges" and "Obama judges".

      As to Unknown's excellent points, I'd like to amplify his thoughts about the MSM. They are dying. They just don't know it. Print, and even TV new, are old media. Yes, I know that many still watch broadcast/cable shows. The internet is the new frontier and conservatives have staked out a healthy presence and are thought leasers. Hence the efforts to shut us out.

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  4. Someone needs to tell Sullivan the horse is out of the barn... The more he continues with this charade the worse it is going to get for him and those he's covering for. It is looking like a vendetta..

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    1. Yep. Even partisan Dem judges at higher levels must realize how badly this could turn out? But they lead lives insulated from reality--your honor this, your honor that, your honor may I kiss your bum?

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    2. When you get your news from the NYT and WaPo one would probably think everyone is cheering his actions. Why these newspapers have any credibility after nearly four years of lies about Russian collusion is beyond me.

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    3. To apply Angelo Codevilla's reasoning: An individual's reality corresponds to the reality of his or her dinner companions/group.
      This is why the classism that has grown so pervasive in the post-boomer generations is so pernicious. If an antidote for that poison isn't found soon the Republic will almost certainly expire.
      Tom S.

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    4. Excellent way of putting it.

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    5. @Tom

      It might not be just classism, although I completely get your point.

      For many years we lived in Deep Blue NY and CT. Almost ten years ago we moved to a Deep Red western state.

      I had been pretty apolitical during my working years. If I thought about it I probably didn't like much the regular tax increases in NY and CT but mostly I didn't notice. I was too busy working. (So we didn't have many dinner companions, either.)

      W Bush seemed so terrible at the end that even Obama didn't appear to be too dangerous in 2008. Not that I voted for him! Little did I know.

      Almost ten years ago we moved to a Red State. I began to talk to my new neighbors and colleagues and my eyes began to open. My Red State has a balanced budget. Low taxes. Very low unemployment. Frugal on state pensions and benefits. Frugal on welfare.

      But most importantly the voting population appreciates individual rights, small government, less regulation. Freedom. And the folks around here more or less walk the walk.

      And the comparison between my Red State and NY State is stark. There is an optimism here (even in the time of corona) that the best is yet to come (I may be too old to enjoy it when it comes) whereas in NY the signs of decline and decay were everywhere. For example there is not a single piece of infrastructure anywhere in Red State that even remotely compares to the decrepit New York City subway system. The major urban airport is a jewel.

      So, yes, there is a classism at work. There is an enormous divide between the elites and everyone else, especially on the coasts. But here in flyover country its just a whole different outlook on what matters.

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  5. If this is for real, it is a big slap down for Obama. A buddy of mine who resides in the DC metro area posted it. https://centipedenation.com/transmissions/open-memorandum-to-barack-obama-from-sidney-powell/?ref=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1lq2bBOLFNnUMWN6eGV46xESTq7Xe3jP7GGWyQUxgxYPuQfPjCZ1jkMaI

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    1. Ray SoCal linked that on another thread and it does appear to be for real. Very well reasoned.

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    2. The memo is good, but I would think that Powell could get an open letter published on just about any site.

      Is Centipede supposed to be a credible site? This is the first I've heard of it, but that doesn't mean anything. I scrolled through some of the red pill section and found it pretty weird.

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    3. I just want to add my 2¢.

      Wow. Sidney Powell's memorandum is superb.

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    4. She published it on her own site. Others may have picked it up there.

      https://sidneypowell.com/media/open-memorandum-to-barack-obama/

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    5. I guess I'm going to have to buy her book. I hate reading ghost written garbage. Obviously Sidney Powell requires no ghost writers, unlike some "constitutional scholars" we know.
      Tom S.

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  6. As I read your posts and others whom I follow, especially tweets and the associated threads where others weigh in, I couldn't help but think that we are in a period similar to how I perceive the pre-Civil War climate. First, the extreme Left seems untethered to any notions of fairness, consistency and decency. They want to win at all costs. They have taken over large parts of churches, schools, universities, etc.

    I don't know that a majority of Americans are as bitterly divided but we do have a lot of 51% to 49% election results. I've heard the theory of a "fourth turning" and don't know much about it, but, based on my limited knowledge, maybe this is a turning point. I don't think a country can remain united with these simmering (boiling?) tensions. I'm not sure how this all turns out. Maybe we break apart into many smaller countries, we have another war or the People decisively expel the Dems in November of 2020. The last option is my preferred method.

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  7. Sullivan should be ashamed of himself. I guess that he is burning with rope fever.

    In your now-retracted piece about Sullivan backing down, you speculated that he got spanked. Oh, I hope that he does.

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    1. Joe, if there is no action on Sullivan's actions, we enter Banana Republic territory. The recklessness of the left in seeking to cover up their crimes is breathtaking.

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    2. Somewhere I recall Codevilla analogizing, between today's US, and 1936 Spain, which got to evade BR status, only at the cost of rivers of blood.

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  8. @Joe

    You wrote: "Maybe we break apart into many smaller countries"

    Funny you would say that. My wife and I were discussing yesterday all the insanity and what happens if, God forbid, we don't gain control in November. Of course there's always the dream of Australia and New Zealand but they aren't very practical for us. And those places have their own issues with the Left.

    Fortunately we live in a very Red smaller Western state. If the worst happens (and I'm not predicting it) I can imagine ferocious push back against progressive Federal government incursions. There are many things Washington might do and the states can't stop them but there are also many areas where the states can attempt to draw the line.

    Short of secession.

    Many people will be dusting off their copies of the Bill of Rights and reviewing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

    We'll see.

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