U.S. Supreme Court makes it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction

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The Supreme Court justices ruled 6-3 that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents

Insurrectionists loyal to then-U.S. president Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021.The Supreme Court on Friday made it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction, a charge that also has been brought against former President Donald Trump.

It’s unclear how the court’s decision will affect the case against Trump in Washington, although special counsel Jack Smith has said the charges faced by the former president would not be affected. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court’s opinion, joined by conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, and by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Most lower court judges who have weighed in have allowed the charge to stand. Among them, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, wrote that “statutes often reach beyond the principal evil that animated them.”

 

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