Supreme Court to Review Feds’ Use of Obstruction Charge Against Jan. 6 Defendants, Trump
The fate of hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants lies with the Supreme Court, which will hear a case Tuesday arguing that the obstruction law under which they were charged was never meant to apply to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
If the justices rule that prosecutors have stretched the law too far, then it could also help former President Donald Trump, who faces conspiracy charges under another section of the same law.
At issue is a law passed in 2002 in the wake of the Enron scandal and aimed at giving the government new tools to go after those who obstruct an official proceeding.
The Biden administration says the Electoral College vote count taking place at the Capitol in 2021 while the mob raged counts as an official proceeding.
Joseph Fischer, one of those convicted under the law, says the statute was intended to snare people who try to destroy evidence of corporate fraud cases, such as document shredding. What went on at the Capitol that day falls far outside that, his lawyers argue. (Read more from “Supreme Court to Review Feds’ Use of Obstruction Charge Against Jan. 6 Defendants, Trump” HERE)
