A federal appeals court panel ordered a lower-court judge to dismiss the long-running criminal case against Michael Flynnas the Justice Department requested.

In a 2-1 order filed Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan had overstepped his authority when he appointed a retired judge to file a friend-of-the-court, or amicus, brief arguing against the Justice Department’s request to drop a criminal count of lying to the FBI that Mr. Flynn had earlier pleaded guilty to. Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had objected to Judge Sullivan’s effort, asking the appeals court to take the unusual step of forcing the judge to dismiss the case. “The district court’s orders appointing an amicus and scheduling the proposed hearing...constitute clear legal error,” the ruling said. The decision was written by Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee and joined by Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee. Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, dissented.

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