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An update to my Flynn post: The reactions of many Barr/Flynn defenders to the 12/29 call transcript--in effect, that Barr's right that it's a big nothingburger or even "laudable"--suggests the following possible explanation ... /1

@just_security @EliLake @benjaminwittes
2/ ... about the heart of the huge disconnect here.

We know *now* that Trump (at best) didn't care about Russia's election interference--he's said so daily for three-plus years. And if that's your baseline understanding-- ... /2
... that of course Trump wasn't troubled by the cyber-operations and therefore would naturally have been trying to stymie the effects of Obama's sanctions--then the reaction to the Kislyak call is: "Duh!"

But *on December 29 2016,* ... /3
... the idea that the incoming POTUS and/or his NSA would be so nonchalant about Russia's interference--in secret, with the Russian Ambassador!--was virtually unthinkable and alarming, easily justifying DOJ's and the FBI's concerns. ... /4
And then things only got more troubling when the Pence lied in public ... /5
As I wrote in my piece, I think Sally Yates was right that the thing to do was to inform Trump and McGahn, and that Comey shouldn't have insubordinately interviewed Flynn. But it would have been derelict not to keep the investigation open. /6
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Marty Lederman
@marty_lederman
Wait a sec: The reason her obsessive, multi-year coverage of the so-called "campus culture wars" (hmm: "wars" on campus; "war" in the NYT) "always mattered" was that one day, years later, part of the NYT staff would be upset because @nytopinion chose to publish, ...
... from among thousands of submissions, an Op-Ed by the most belligerent member of the Senate--someone hardly lacking for fora--urging an "overwhelming" and (probably) unlawful use of military force in the midst of a public uprising to protest . . .
... police violence against African-Americans? An Op-Ed that had the audacity to invoke 1957 Little Rock as an analogy?

Boy, she sure was prescient.
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Marty Lederman
@marty_lederman
Judge Sullivan's brief to the D.C. Circuit in the Flynn case.

justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl…

@just_security
This brief doesn't really get into the most important questions relating to Flynn--namely, whether his conduct (and the President's) respecting Russia and Turkey was problematic; whether DOJ, the FBI and the IC had reason to be alarmed by, and investigate, it; and ... /2
... why AG Barr now insists that Flynn did nothing problematic and that the FBI had no basis to investigate the threat he possibly posed. For much more on all of that, see my post from last week:

justsecurity.org/70431/understa…

/3
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Marty Lederman
@marty_lederman
@kewhittington, I agree with your primary point, namely, that the Court will (& should) be less deferential if a Governor leaves restrictions in place for many months on end, w/o reassessment. But of course they won't do--and aren't doing--any such thing: /1
The Governors are adjusting the restrictions virtually weekly as the evidence and medical needs change. As Roberts wrote, it's very dynamic.

Three objections, however:

First, Kavanaugh wasn't "raising real issues." He made unfounded assertions, ... /2
... such as that there was discrimination against church gatherings, when in fact California was treating churches more favorably than most such analogous gatherings. /3
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