For context, read this piece at Lawfare on the judge’s outrageous conduct during Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing.
Conclusion:
Under statute the Supreme Court has an affirmative responsibility to discipline judges for ethics violations and bias among other things and any American has the right to bring such abuses to their attention. The rule of law and the rule of lawyers are not the same thing. You have a right to bring instances of abuse of power to the attention of the members of the Supreme Court and they have a responsibility to deal with them. At the very least judges who abuse their power should be disciplined as should Supreme Court justices who refuse to do their jobs even unpalatable parts of their jobs.
Not sure there was a real abuse in power other than ranting at Flynn. What would be the penalty? (It was kind of amusing in a dark way as the right wing conspiracists had been lauding Sullivan up to this event.)
Steve
The law in this area is a ass, maybe the judge is too. Judges have bad days sometimes; it happens. Or he is, or has become, a ass.
I’m not quite following the link’s assertion that underlying all of this must be the judge’s fear that Flynn will assert conspiratorial claims, like Papadapolous. Accused often complain about the plea they were compelled to take by circumstances. I think they have an important free speech right to do so. I don’t know that Papadoapolouis blamed the judge; he thinks the prosecutors set him up. I don’t know why the judge would care that much or that it would be something novel. The judge had a very specific job, to make sure that he entered his guilty plea “knowingly, voluntarily, intelligently, and with fulsome and satisfactory advice of counsel.” Doing his job avoids problems in the future, and maybe now that possibility is complicated because the accused is getting advise from the judge.
Anyway, two possible alternative motivations. Some judges get burned out on sentencing young, disadvantaged youths to decades of imprisonment, and they scratch an itch on going medieval on the white collar stuff. It’s not blind justice, but its an understable emotion.
The other is the judge feels a calling to take all measures within his grasp to attack Trump and any of his associates. The rise of the Jackson, gives rise to the anti-Jackson, who will feel justified to break the laws and ignore the norms in turn.