I am curious whether those people who are insisting that Judge Sullivan has no authority to reject DOJ's Rule 48 motion in the Flynn case also think that judges have no federal authority to reject plea bargains.
When the parties enter into a plea bargain, the defendant sometimes pleads guilty in return for the government agreeing to dismiss charges or in return for a particular sentence. Federal Criminal Procedure Rule 11 specifically contemplates such plea negotiations. 
The thing is, Rule 11 also specifically says that judges may reject plea agreements, including plea agreements in which the government agrees to dismiss charges. And the Rule goes on at length about rejecting pleas, leaving no doubt that judges have authority to do so.
I believe that those people who are arguing that Judge Sullivan does not have the power to deny the government's Rule 48 motion say that the Constitution deprives him of that authority. So do those people also think that Rule 11 is unconstitutional?
