Prosecutor Appeals Order for Release of Special Counsel's Report on Misconduct of Prosecutors in the Ted Stevens Case

Anchorage--

A government lawyer who assisted in the bungled prosecution of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens has asked an appellate court to stop the release of a special counsel's report detailing allegations of misconduct committed by Justice Department attorneys in that case.

Lawyers for Edward Sullivan have filed notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the order of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan directing the release of the 500-page report on March 15.    Judge Sullivan this week denied a motion to stay (delay) the release of the report pending the appeal.    (Edward Sullivan, an attorney with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, is not related to Judge Sullivan or to Brendan Sullivan, the lead attorney for the late Ted Stevens.)

Judge Sullivan had also ordered that any written comments or objections to that special counsel's report by Edward Sullivan and the other five government attorneys under investigation be filed as addenda to that report upon its release on March 15.  

The document setting out the basis for Edward Sullivan's appeal has been sealed.

 The Blog of Legal Times broke this story.   As the BLT notes, four of the six attorneys under scrutiny in the investigation led by court-appointed special counsel Henry Schuelke expressed opposition to release of the report, while two of those attorneys did not oppose its release.  

 
Except for Edward Sullivan's appeal, the court papers do not identify which of "the Stevens Six" have taken which positions on the release.   The BLT states what I have heard, which is that lawyers representing the late Nicholas Marsh opposed release.    Speculation has been that Brenda Morris (the former Principal Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity Section who served as lead counsel in the Ted Stevens trial) and William Welch (the Public Integrity Section's former Chief) were the two lawyers who did not oppose the release of the Schuelke report. 


UPDATED--Corrected to reflect the correct appellate court.