Supreme Court curbs charges against Jan. 6 rioters

Share on linkedin The Supreme Court on Friday made it more difficult to prosecute some Jan. 6 rioters, and may have weakened the Justice Department'sThe court narrowed one specific charge that the Justice Department has relied on in more than 300 Jan. 6 cases, including Trump's.

That charge — obstructing an official proceeding — has previously been used almost exclusively for white-collar crimes like evidence tampering. But the Justice Department had argued that the Jan. 6 riot was an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding: the certification of the 2020 election. To prove an obstruction charge, the court said Friday, prosecutors would need to show that a defendant interfered with documents, records or other material parts of an official proceeding.Between the lines:There are more than the 1,300 Jan. 6 defendants. DOJ has charged roughly 330 of them with obstructing an official proceeding,But most of them have also been convicted on other charges, which will still stand even as their obstruction convictions now become invalid.

Special counsel Jack Smith, however, has argued that the obstruction charge could still survive in Trump's case. The specific accusations against Trump — that he and his allies attempted to submit fraudulent election certifications — fit within even a narrower reading of the obstruction charge, Smith says.Share on linkedin

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