Neomi Rao who wrote the Flynn decision is Kavanaugh's replacement on the DC Circuit Appeals Court

[DonaldsRump]

Surprise, surprise: Judge Neomi Rao wrote the decision handed down today in the Michael Flynn case. She was appointed by Trump to take Bret Kavanaugh's seat on the DC Circuit of Appeals.

On November 13, 2018, President Trump announced that he would nominate Rao to the seat Brett Kavanaugh previously occupied on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit before he was elevated to the US Supreme Court.[12] Her nomination was sent to the Senate later that day.[13] On January 3, 2019, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6, of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Rao for a federal judgeship.[14] Her nomination was sent to the Senate later that day.[15]

Rao's nomination attracted some opposition due to some of her college writing on race, sexual assault, and feminism.[16] In response, Rao publicly apologized for these writings.[17] A hearing on her nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on February 5, 2019. Rao was asked by several Senators about her college writings, some of which they viewed as sexual assault victim blaming. Rao responded that "A victim of a horrible crime is not to blame and the person who commits those crimes should be held responsible."[18] Democrats expressed concern that rules Rao worked to repeal in her role as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs could face legal challenges and wind up before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considered the second most powerful appeals court. Rao said she would "look carefully at the standards for recusal, consult with her colleagues and follow the precedent and practices of the D.C. Circuit."[18] Republican Senator Josh Hawley questioned whether she was sufficiently socially conservative regarding abortion rights but ultimately voted for her confirmation.[19] On February 28, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 party-line vote.[20] On March 13, 2019, the Senate voted to confirm Rao by a 53–46 party-line vote. She received her judicial commission on March 18, 2019.

In an October 11, 2019, opinion of a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Rao was the dissenter in a 2-1 ruling to affirm a district court ruling supporting a congressional subpoena for President Trump's records from accounting firm Mazars USA LLP.[21] Her opinion stated, "allegations of illegal conduct against the president cannot be investigated by Congress except through impeachment." [22]

Rao participated in the May 2020 appeal of Judge Emmett Sullivan's actions appointing amicus curiae in response to the Department of Justice moving to dismiss charges in United States of America v. Michael T. Flynn. The Appeals Court initially ordered Judge Sullivan to file a response regarding the appeal within 10 days.[23][24][25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neomi_Rao

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin' with disgust!

[Botany]

2. Court packing with Mitch McConnell

n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. I remember reading about this vile creature before. nt

[sunonmars]

4. Apparently the opinion is so badly written you could drive a truck through it, wouldn't stand....

a review by the whole court.

Numerous legal minds have said, its inevitable it goes to en banc review or full court vote and Rao will get her ass handed to her.

[tavernier]

8. I don't know what that means but it sounds encouraging.

Could you explain please?

[gratuitous]

10. Brief primer on appeals

The case came before the DC Court of Appeals when the Justice Department asked for a writ of mandamus. Basically, that's a legal filing by a party in a case when that party thinks the District Court judge they're in front of isn't following the rules. So the party asks the Circuit Court of Appeals to order the judge to take a specific action that the party wants the judge to take.

The appellate court has a whole slew of judges sitting on the bench there, and a panel of three judges is drawn from those judges to make a ruling on the motion. We're at the point now where the three judge panel has voted 2-1 to grant the Department of Justice's motion and is ordering the District Court judge to dismiss the case, as the Department of Justice has requested.

The losing party in a matter like this has the option to ask for an en banc review, which asks the Chief Judge of the Circuit to have all the judges in the circuit rule on the motion. If the Chief Judge thinks the request isn't worth the court's time (usually because the panel's ruling is correct, in the judge's estimation), the request for en banc review will be denied. But if the Chief Judge thinks the three judge panel's ruling is incorrect or deficient or somehow not up to snuff, he will order a review of the motion by the full panel of all the judges in the circuit.

After that, the losing party has the option to appeal to the Supreme Court, which similarly may decide whether or not to take up the matter.

[tavernier]

12. Thank you! Very clearly stated.

I hope they take this next step.

[Takket]

5. The USA is now a de facto anarchy.

The rule of law means nothing.

Can this be appealed to SCOTUS?

[Pantagruel]

6. Can a Biden DOJ

re-bring the charges next year?

[BComplex]

7. Just another tool in trump/barr tool box.

I hate mitch mcconnell.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Disgusting.

But, they really didn't help Flynn, did they? No sentence, no pardon. We just need to win the Senate and start investigations on his activities in Turkey.

[DarthDem]

11. Headed for en banc review

The full court is either 6-5 Democratic appointees or 7-4, depending on when it gets heard. This is going to be reversed and on its way to SCOTUS.

[dalton99a]

13. "Allegations of illegal conduct against the president cannot be investigated by Congress"

Another piece of shit fascist judge