Trump appointed Indian-American judge in political storm after dismissing case against former NSA Flynn

WASHINGTON

: An Indian-American judge appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President Trump rode into the center of a political storm on Wednesday after ordering a lower court judge to immediately end cases against former National Security Advisor and Trump acolyte Michael Flynn.


In a 2-1 decision, the Appeals Court said in an opinion written by Judge Neomi Rao that it is not within the trial judge’s power to prolong the prosecution or examine the government’s motives for its reversal in the politically charged case, even though Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the

FBI

about his contacts with Russia. Trump’s Justice Department had subsequently moved to dismiss the charges against Flynn, even as he sought to change his plea to not guilty.


The trial judge Emmett Sullivan, who happens to be African-American, overstepped his role and committed a “clear legal error,” the Appeals court said, by refusing to immediately close the case at the government’s request and instead appointing a former judge to argue against the Justice Department’s position. Judge Sullivan "demonstrated intent to scrutinize the reasoning and motives of the Department of Justice constitute irreparable harms that cannot be remedied on appeal," Rao wrote in the 19-page opinion that was joined by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, a nominee of President George HW Bush.

In a dissenting note, the third judge on the panel, Robert Wilkins, who is an Obama appointee, said the majority "grievously" overstepped its own authority by forcing Sullivan to drop the case before the judge had an opportunity to rule.

The division brought to the fore the increasingly political and partisan schism in the US judiciary, even as President Trump celebrated rescuing with help from a judge critics described as a "political hack," an ally who pleaded guilty. The President himself had said he fired Flynn because he lied to the FBI and vice-president Mike Pence about his Russia contacts.

"Great! Appeals Court Upholds Justice Departments Request To Drop Criminal Case Against General Michael Flynn!" Trump tweeted minutes after the Rao court opinion.



Daughter of Parsi physicians from India, the Detroit-born

Neomi Jehangir Rao

was appointed to the DC Appeals Court by Trump in 2019, to replace Brett Kavanaugh after he was nominated to the Supreme Court. Her conservative credentials are well-known: She had earlier served in the Trump Administration from 2017 to 2019 as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and before that had worked in the Bush White House and as a staffer at the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But the Wednesday morning opinion brought the full force of liberal fury on her. "Judge Rao must have graduated from Trump University," one prominent Obama supporter griped on social media where the controversial ruling was a top trend. "This decision is exactly why @realDonaldTrump nominated Neomi Rao to the DC Circuit. Instead of standing up for the rule of law, Judge Rao is utterly complicit in the corruption and collusion between Flynn and (Attorney General) Barr's DOJ (Department of Justice)," fumed Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono.