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   From: mooler@gmail.com   
      
   (CNN)A divided federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered the   
   dismissal of the case against former Trump national security   
   adviser Michael Flynn, likely concluding a long-running court   
   fight that had taken on greater meaning in political debates   
   about the Russia investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and   
   about the checks and balances the judiciary has on the executive   
   branch.   
      
   Despite Flynn twice pleading guilty for lying to the FBI about   
   his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak   
   during the presidential transition, the Justice Department moved   
   last month to dismiss the case against him. Trial judge Emmet   
   Sullivan of the DC District did not immediately act, instead   
   saying he wanted to weigh the department's arguments into at   
   least July.   
      
   If unchallenged with further appeals, the appeals court's ruling   
   exonerates Flynn after he sought to change his plea and claimed   
   innocence.   
      
   Flynn's case has become a touchstone for President Donald Trump   
   and his supporters in their criticism of the FBI's Russia   
   investigation and special counsel Robert Mueller's criminal   
   prosecution of several Trump campaign associates. Even after the   
   appeals decision, Trump and his supporters continued to attack   
   the investigation, especially as it relates to Flynn. Flynn's   
   team made public a handwritten note on Wednesday that   
   highlighted then-Vice President Joe Biden's comments on Flynn in   
   early January 2017 -- seeking to again delegitimize the Obama   
   administration's discussions of the investigation.   
      
   Trump weighed in on the ruling on Twitter Wednesday, calling it   
   "Great!" Later in the day, speaking in the Oval Office ahead of   
   a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Trump brought up Flynn   
   unprompted, claiming that his former national security adviser   
   had been "exonerated" and adding, "I want to congratulate him."   
   And Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking Republican on the   
   Judiciary Committee, also touted the court's decision at a   
   hearing into Attorney General William Barr's decision-making   
   that began afternoon Wednesday.   
      
   A split three-judge panel on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on   
   Wednesday decided Sullivan didn't have enough reason to question   
   the DOJ's prosecution decisions in this case. They also said   
   Sullivan having a third-party attorney weigh in on Flynn's case,   
   the former judge John Gleeson, isn't needed anymore.   
      
   Sullivan "fails to justify the district court's unprecedented   
   intrusions on individual liberty and the Executive's charging   
   authority," DC appeals court Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee,   
   wrote in the majority opinion.   
      
   RELATED: Michael Flynn case is the latest test of separation of   
   powers during Trump years   
   Appeals court Judge Robert Wilkins disagreed with the decision   
   of Rao and Judge Karen Henderson to short circuit the Flynn case   
   in the trial court immediately. Wilkins wrote he supported   
   allowing Sullivan to hold a hearing about Flynn's dismissal   
   request on July 16.   
      
   Gleeson later asked the trial court for guidance on what happens   
   next, suggesting the case may stay alive for a few weeks.   
      
   An attorney representing Sullivan in the appeal declined to   
   comment.   
      
   It's possible the case could continue on in future appeals,   
   given how it is largely about the power of the judiciary, a   
   weighty subject in a case other appeals court judges may take   
   interest in. If Flynn's case were to stay alive following the   
   ruling Wednesday, it conceivably might not be resolved until   
   after the presidential election, or even next year, if it   
   becomes an issue before the Supreme Court.   
      
   Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor at the University   
   of Texas School of Law, said on Wednesday the ruling may be   
   "short-lived."   
      
   "Whether or not Judge Sullivan wishes to pursue this further,   
   any of the 11 active judges on the DC Circuit, including Judge   
   Wilkins -- who dissented from today's ruling -- can ask the full   
   court to rehear the matter," Vladeck said. "It is virtually   
   unprecedented for an appeals court to step in at this juncture   
   and order a district judge to rule a particular way on a motion   
   he hasn't yet ruled on."   
      
   All three judges on the appeals court refused to reassign   
   Flynn's case to a different judge, as Flynn had hoped. Sullivan   
   has raised questions about whether Flynn should be held in   
   contempt of court for perjury.   
      
   The DOJ's handling of the dismissal in May -- including it being   
   filed by an acting political appointee without the endorsement   
   of career prosecutors on the case -- also prompted hundreds of   
   former national security professionals and federal prosecutors   
   to criticize Barr for making what they argued were political   
   rather than legally sound decisions on cases involving the   
   President's friends.   
      
   Rao wrote on Wednesday that even the unusual signatures on the   
   dismissal didn't give the courts enough reason to second guess   
   Barr.   
      
   "Each of our three coequal branches should be encouraged to self-   
   correct when it errs. If evidence comes to light calling into   
   question the integrity or purpose of an underlying criminal   
   investigation, the Executive Branch must have the authority to   
   decide that further prosecution is not in the interest of   
   justice," Rao wrote.   
      
   Flynn team attempts to tie Biden to his prosecution   
   Shortly after the ruling in his favor, Flynn's legal team made   
   public a new document in his case file that may contribute to   
   ongoing political discussions about the early Russia   
   investigation.   
      
   The filing is a handwritten note that would now have little   
   effect in his court case, but can be touted by conservatives   
   that have sought to tie Biden to the 2017 decision to   
   investigate Flynn. The Trump campaign has already seized on the   
   document to attack the former vice president, who has been   
   rising in the polls since becoming the presumptive Democratic   
   nominee.   
      
   The Justice Department had sent the note directly to Flynn's   
   team on Tuesday as part of a review of his case and while   
   keeping it under a court's protective order. That allowed   
   Flynn's team to make it public on Wednesday by adding it to his   
   case file as a "supplement."   
      
   While releasing the document, Flynn's lawyers also suggested   
   that President Barack Obama, Biden, then-FBI Director James   
   Comey and other Obama-era officials plotted against Flynn. These   
   accusation appear to be an attempt to reinforce the "Obamagate"   
   conspiracy theory that Trump has championed about anti-Trump   
   sabotage by Obama officials. There is essentially no evidence of   
   wrongdoing by these former officials, and in a sweeping ruling   
   last year, a judge in the case soundly rejected the allegations   
   that there was a "deep state" plot by Obama-era officials to   
   target Flynn.   
      
   The note appears to show an early January meeting where Biden,   
   Obama, Comey and others discussed Russian meddling in the recent   
   election and Flynn. The meeting has been known about for years,   
   and multiple participants testified to Congress that nothing   
      
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