I've previously blogged about the Justice Department's effort to vacate a LA County sheriff's deputy's federal civil rights conviction for using excessive force. After District Judge Wilson of the Central District of California rejected that effort to vacate, both the officer and the Justice Department appealed. And yesterday, the Ninth Circuit appointed UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky to defend the judgment below—while also allowing me and co-counsel Caree Harper to file an amicus brief on behalf of the victim supporting the judgment below. The Ninth Circuit's order sets up judicial review of the important issue of whether federal prosecutors have unconstrained power to dismiss federal charges at any time for any reason.

I've previously described the facts of the case, involving a

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