U.S. District Judge Mary Stenson Scriven, a George W. Bush appointee, denied Flynn's last-minute motion for a temporary restraining order on Wednesday. Judge Scriven's six-page order against Flynn reads like a lengthy reprimand. Flynn's motion for a temporary restraining order — filed just one day before he was due to provide evidence in the Committee probe — was deficient on multiple fronts ranging from the substantive to the procedural, the judge determined.

In the underlying complaint in the lawsuit filed on December 21, Flynn cast himself as something of conscientious objector:

'Like many Americans in late 2020, General Flynn has held concerns about the integrity of the 2020 elections. It is not a crime to hold such beliefs, regardless of whether they are correct or mistaken, to discuss them with others, to associate with those who share the same belief, or to ask the government to address such political concerns. Indeed, it is our fundamental Constitutional right to speak about and associate around political issues that concern us, and to petition our government about those grievances.'

Flynn argued that unless the courts step in to protect him, he“faces the harm of being irreparably and illegally coerced to produce information and testimony in violation of the law and his constitutional rights.”