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Twists and Turns in Flynn
Like most appellate lawyers in this country, I have been following the Flynn saga in the DC Circuit. I was disheartened at them granting the order for en banc review. I believed the mandamus was proper and should have issued.
For those of you who are not law nerds, an order in mandamus is an order from a superior court to a lower court telling that court to do something it has an absolute duty to do. You cannot establish a duty through mandamus, you can only enforce a duty. So, unless there was a clear, existing right to the relief sought (dismissal) mandamus would have been inappropriate. The original writ court found that there was such a right. The en banc review cast a shadow on that determination.
Judge Sullivan’s weekend has been ruined by the 
Press Secretary McEnany had her priorities straight. She opened the briefing with a tribute to World War II veterans, then recited in detail the great injustice done to a true man of honor, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. After that, she opened the floor to questions (attack sound bites) and commanded the high ground with a smile, finally dismissing the pack of propagandists as tardy to an event with the president.
Those words should cause heavy drinking and bad dreams this weekend for a number of punks who perverted justice and violated their oaths of office. The words were uttered by Attorney General William Barr in the middle of an excellent interview by Catherine Herridge, now with CBS News. You can tell how threatening this interview and the Justice Department’s lengthy and damning 
