The Supreme Court ruled that there are limits on charging January 6 rioters with obstruction, in a case that will impact former President Trump’s 2020 federal election interference case.
The 6-3 decision could upend hundreds of cases stemming from the January 6 riot, including Donald Trump‘s election fraud trial.
The court’s ruling makes it harder for January 6 defendants to be charged with obstructing an official proceeding – which carries up to 20 years in prison.
That is among the four charges facing former President Donald Trump in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal case.
The decision is poised to upend hundreds of cases stemming from the January 6 riot, including Donald Trump ‘s election fraud trial
At least 152 people have been convicted of obstructing an official proceeding, according to the Associated Press, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
In all, the charge has been brought against about 350 people accused of trying to prevent Congress certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The case was brought by former Boston police officer Joseph Fischer who was indicted on seven charges following the 6 riot including one count for anyone who ‘corruptly … obstructs, influences and impedes any official proceeding.’
Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion Friday, limited the ‘obstruction of Congress’ charge that has been used by the federal government to prosecute January 6 defendants.
Roberts called that law – which carries a 20-year prison sentence – ‘one of the more severe potential punishments.’
A broad interpretation of the law ‘would also criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists to decades in prison,’ Roberts continued.
On average, the sentence for obstruction for those rioters already found guilty was 28 months, according to a Washington Post database.
