A federal appeals court appeared unwilling Friday to order the immediate dismissal of the case against Michael Flynn, displaying skepticism of the former Trump national security adviser’s argument that a judge overstepped his authority when he appointed an outside lawyer to oppose the Justice Department’s abandonment of the prosecution.

At the nearly two-hour hearing, Flynn’s lawyer and an attorney for the Justice Department faced sharp questioning from a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, whose inquiries suggested a reluctance to order U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to halt his review of the government’s extraordinary move to drop the case.