Is it hyperbole if it's true? This is great.
"Petitioner, through no fault of his own, has been drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare that is a cross between The Trial and In the Penal Colony.
He has been subjected to deception, abuse, penury, obloquy, and humiliation. Having risked his life in service to his country, he has found himself the target of a political vendetta designed to strip him of his honor and savings, and to deprive the President of his advice.
He has been dragged through the mud and forced, through coercion and the artful withholding of information crucial to his defense, to confess to a crime he did not commit— indeed, to a crime that could not exist.
Having at last, through the relentless determination of his current counsel, brought the truth to light, he now learns that the judge who is charged with adjudicating his case impartially has, in Judge Posner’s words, decided to “play... U.S. Attorney."
Then she goes on to call Sullivan corrupt and dumb as a post.
"Second, the reputation of the judiciary is in jeopardy. As the Chief Justice memorably stated at his confirmation hearings, the function of a judge in our system of government is to “call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat.” The district judge in this case has abandoned any pretense of being an objective umpire going so far as to suggest that a criminal defendant who succumbs to a coerced and unfair plea bargain should be prosecuted for contempt.
In the midst of a national election season, with unprecedented acrimony on all sides of the civic debate, the district judge has dragged the court into the political hurricane—cementing the notion that judges are politicians in robes who use their authority to thwart what they consider the “corruption,” “impropriety,” and “improper political influence” of another one of the political branches.
Confidence in the rule of law, and the willingness of federal judges to administer it impartially, will continue to erode, if this Court fails to put a swift end to this spectacle.
IV. The Court Should Order this Case Re-Assigned to Another District Judge
The district judge’s manifest confusion about the facts of this case, accusing General Flynn of treason and having “sold out his country,” and his punitive intentions are well documented. Following Petitioner’s first sentencing hearing on December 18, 2018, headlines such as these appeared: Stephanie Kirchgaessner, 'I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain’: judge lambasts Michael Flynn, THE GUARDIAN (Dec. 18, 2018, 5:26 PM)
Shannon LaFraniere and Adam Goldman, ‘Not Hiding My Disgust’: Judge Rebukes Flynn, Then Delays Sentencing, N.Y. TIMES (Dec. 28, 2018) " |
