# Who pays for Judge Sullivan's lawyer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-judge-sullivans-lawyer/854501>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 26, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-judge-sullivans-lawyer/854501 "2020-05-26T17:56:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-judge-sullivans-lawyer/854501/1 "2020-05-26T17:56:45Z")

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[Judge Emmet Sullivan has hired a top tier defense lawyer to justify his actions in the Michael Flynn case](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/23/politics/emmet-sullivan-michael-flynn-appeal-wilkinson-walsh/index.html) to a panel of appeals court judges who ordered him to explain himself. I’m curious as to who pays the bills. Is a judge authorized to unilaterally hire outside counsel to represent him in such situations? Or is he acting in a private capacity? If the former, on what basis is this authority and are there any limits here?