Even though the Supreme Court has yet to issue its ruling on presidential immunity , Donald Trump may no longer need it to win. On Friday, the justices’ decision in Fischer v. United States squashed much of the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president’s involvement with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Writing for a 6-3 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts held that 'the Government must establish that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceedings of records, documents, objects, or other things used in an official proceeding, or attempted to do so.' DOJ may not charge someone for merely disrupting or delaying official proceedings; the disruption has to interfere with actual documents, evidence or witnesses.
But what made the case important far beyond its legal significance is that DOJ has wielded SOX as its main weapon against the Jan. 6 rioters. It has charged more than 300 defendants, including Trump, with allegedly violating the document-tampering law by seeking to prevent Congress from counting the presidential electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
John Shu is a legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
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