Right-wing outlets are continuing to push the world's dumbest criminal procedure conspiracy theory about the Michael Flynn case. Here is a (hopefully short) thread on why this claim is absolutely batshit.
First, a recap of what this new right-wing conspiracy theory actually is. Last Friday, Judge Emmet Sullivan entered a new order in the case. It was a standing order that outlines the prosecution's production obligations under Brady v. Maryland. viewfromll2.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/20-ord…
The entry of this standing order is (supposedly) the big tip off that Judge Sullivan is about to bring the righteous hammer of justice down on Special Counsel Mueller for his corruptly corrupt prosecuting ways.
Their belief is that after Judge Sullivan discovered Mueller had withheld exculpatory evidence from Flynn, he entered the standing order as Flynn's cue to file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Ergo, Flynn shall soon be cleared of all wrongdoing.
In reality, Judge Sullivan entered the exact same revised standing Brady order in the Flynn case that he also entered in ALL of the criminal cases he's currently presiding over. It indicates absolutely nothing about the status of the Flynn case in particular.
Judge Sullivan has a fantastic article on why constitutional disclosure requirements ought to be codified in federal crim pro and why, as a stopgap measure, he enters standing Brady orders in all of his cases.
@Undisclosedpod listeners, check it out. cardozolawreview.com/content/denovo…
@Undisclosedpod listeners, check it out. cardozolawreview.com/content/denovo…
What happened in the Flynn case -- and why a minor procedural issue has now turned into this numbnuts conspiracy theory -- is due to Judge Sullivan's procedure of making periodic updates to these standing orders to reflect developments in the law.
Up until October 2017, Judge Sullivan used a version of the standing order that had a section on production requirements that looked like this: viewfromll2.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/nadel-… 
Then in November, he revised his standard order to reflect the unsettled nature of our current case law regarding what Brady requires to be disclosed in plea cases. Here's a copy of Judge Sullivan's current standing Brady order:
viewfromll2.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/nadel-…
viewfromll2.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/nadel-…
The earlier version of the order directed the production of all 'favorable and material' evidence, including in plea cases. The revised version was more nuanced: the government must produce "during plea negotiations, *any exculpatory evidence* in the government’s possession." 
Basically: Judge Sullivan's standing order requires the gov't to produce evidence that tends to show the defendant's innocence in all cases, including cases heading towards a plea. But in plea cases, as opposed to trials, the gov't may not have to hand over impeachment evidence.
Anyway, on November 20, 2017, Judge Sullivan went and entered this new version of the standing Brady order in all of his cases. (These cases also all already had the prior version of the Brady order entered on the docket when the cases were originally filed.) 
Then a couple weeks later, the Flynn and Mueller reach a plea deal and the case is filed. Shortly after that, the judge originally assigned to the case was recused. Judge Sullivan was randomly reassigned, and first thing he did was to enter his standing Brady order, as usual. 
Only there was a slight mix up, and Judge Sullivan's prior version of the standing order -- the one that was in place up through October 2017 -- was entered on the docket, instead of the newly revised version of the order: viewfromll2.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/10-sta…
So, fast-forward a couple months to last Friday, and someone now realizes that the wrong order got entered on the Flynn docket, and that they need to file the updated version.
No big deal, normally. It would be not be any kind of deal at all in pretty much any other case.
No big deal, normally. It would be not be any kind of deal at all in pretty much any other case.
But this isn't any other case. So to avoid having something so incredibly minor get blown out of all proportion, Judge Sullivan's new filling included a quick docket entry to explain why the filing was made, and why it didn't reflect anything in particular about Flynn's case. 
Unfortunately it didn't work. The alt-right jackwagons decided that this routine administrative filing is 🚨🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨🚨 that Flynn's guilty plea is about to be dismissed and Mueller is going to jail, or something.
We are officially living in the dumbest timeline.
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We are officially living in the dumbest timeline.
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