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Zoe Tillman Profile picture
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8 Dec, 5 tweets, 2 min read
End of an era: Judge Emmet Sullivan has dismissed the criminal case against Michael Flynn as moot given his presidential pardon scribd.com/document/48738…

Previously: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Michael Flynn's criminal case is officially over, but Judge Sullivan makes very clear that a presidential pardon does not mean that Flynn is innocent of the crime he pleaded guilty to twice
As for DOJ's pre-pardon effort to drop the Flynn prosecution, Sullivan writes that it was a "close question" and that he was "troubled by the apparently pretextual nature of certain aspects of the government’s ever-evolving justifications"
Even though he doesn't end up actually ruling on DOJ's pre-pardon motion to dismiss the case, he rejects DOJ's argument that judges should have an extremely limited role to play in reviewing such decisions by the govt
And he's the latest judge to conclude that he can't just ignore Trump's tweets, regardless of what DOJ is arguing in court

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More from @ZoeTillman

Zoe Tillman Profile picture
10 Dec
Overnight action: A federal judge in Wisconsin dismissed Sidney Powell's election challenge.

"Federal judges do not appoint the president in this country. One wonders why the plaintiffs came to federal court and asked a federal judge to do so."
scribd.com/document/48764… Image
Ruling came a few hours after a federal judge in Arizona reached the same conclusion (which was the same conclusion that every judge to consider Powell's cases has reached to date) -->
A hearing is about to start in the Trump campaign's election challenge in federal court in Wisconsin (this is separate from Sidney Powell's WI case, which was dismissed last night). The court has made an audio stream available here: youtube.com/channel/UCNFX-…
Read 16 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
10 Dec
New: A federal judge has dismissed Sidney Powell's election challenge in Arizona
scribd.com/document/48756…

"...the Complaint’s allegations are sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence, and Plaintiffs’ invocation of this Court’s limited jurisdiction is severely strained." Image
Powell's Arizona federal election failed for many of the same reasons judges elsewhere have rejected her cases:
- no standing to sue
- claims should be in state court
- state officials immune per 11th Amend.
- laches (unreasonable delay in filing)
- moot (already certified)
The judge was extremely unimpressed by Powell's evidence:

"The allegations they put forth to support their claims of fraud fail in their particularity and plausibility. Plaintiffs append over three hundred pages of attachments, which are only impressive for their volume." Image
Read 7 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
8 Dec
A hearing is starting soon in Sidney Powell's Arizona election challenge. State/county officials are moving to dismiss, raising many of the same args that Powell lost on yesterday in her GA and MI cases. Here's a summary + public dial-info if you'd like to listen along
Sidney Powell will not be arguing today in Arizona — Julia Haller, a member of Powell's team representing the plaintiffs, will be handling that today
Judge Diane Humetewa is handling this case. She's focusing so far on what to do about a state court ruling yesterday tossing similar claims in an election challenge filed by AZ GOP chair Kelli Ward — who is also a plaintiff in the federal case (see: scribd.com/document/48736…)
Read 10 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
8 Dec
Today marks the federal safe harbor deadline for states to certify election results. On what that means for Trump and his supporters' legal challenges: 
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Meanwhile, we have a FLURRY of notable court activity to kick of the day. Yes, a thread:
Texas has moved to sue GA, MI, WI, and PA *in the US Supreme Court*. It's asking SCOTUS to let legislatures decide who won — an extraordinarily extreme ask rooted in baseless voter fraud conspiracies that numerous judges have repeatedly rejected texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/…
A dispute between states presents the rare situation where SCOTUS can have original jurisdiction to take up a case. The court doesn't have to hear any given case though — note that Paxton's filing is a motion to file the complaint. SCOTUS will rule on that first.
Read 11 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
7 Dec
New: Another loss for Sidney Powell, this time in Michigan.

The loss is multifaceted:
- state officials immune
- case is moot
- laches (waited too long to sue)
- abstention b/c of state court litigation
- no standing
- unlikely to succeed on the merits
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7334…
Judge Linda Parker: "Plaintiffs ask this Court to ignore the orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters. This, the Court cannot, and will not, do. The People have spoken."
Parker dings Powell for including the words "due process" in pleadings but not backing it up with substantive argument — Powell's gotten in trouble for this before, recall in WI the judge noted she used the words "emergency" and "expedited" but didn't actually ask for that
Read 23 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
5 Dec
New: Another GOP election challenge loss — 11th Circuit rejected L. Lin Wood's effort to stop Georgia from certifying. The 3-0 opinion, written by Judge Bill Pryor, agreed with the district judge that Wood lacked standing, and concluded it was moot assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7334…
Pryor: "The Constitution makes clear that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, U.S. Const. art. III; we may not entertain post-election contests about garden-variety issues of vote counting and misconduct that may properly be filed in state courts."
"Wood’s arguments reflect a basic misunderstanding of what mootness is. He argues that the certification does not moot anything “because this litigation is ongoing” and he remains injured. But mootness concerns the availability of relief, not the existence of a lawsuit..."
Read 7 tweets

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