Supreme Court rules for Jan. 6 rioter challenging obstruction charge
The closely watched case focuses on a charge that former President Donald Trump also faces in his election interference case.
By Lawrence Hurley and Ryan J. Reilly
June 28, 2024
www.nbcnews.com
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a former police officer who is seeking to throw out an obstruction charge for joining the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The justices in a 6-3 vote on nonideological lines handed a win to defendant Joseph Fischer, who is among hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants — including former President Donald Trump — who have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding over the effort to prevent Congress' certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
The court concluded that the law, enacted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act after the Enron accounting scandal, was only intended to apply to more limited circumstances involving forms of evidence tampering, not the much broader array of situations that prosecutors had claimed it covered.
The provision targets anyone who "obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so," but the court determined that its scope is limited by a preceding sentence in the statute referring to altering or destroying records.
Joseph Fischer, second left, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The court sent the case back to lower courts for further proceedings on whether the Justice Department could still prosecute Fischer under the new interpretation of the law.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that he was disappointed by the decision because of the impact it would have on the Justice Department's Jan. 6 cases, although he stressed it would not affect the bulk of them.
The ruling "limits an important federal statute that the department has sought to use to ensure that those most responsible for that attack face appropriate consequences," he added.
But the decision was celebrated by Trump, who said the Supreme Court "did the right thing" in Fischer's case.
"They've been waiting for this decision for a long time. They've been waiting for a long time, and that was a great answer. That was a great thing for people who have been so horribly treated," Trump told supporters Friday at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia.
On Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors said, Fischer joined the crowd breaching the Capitol from the east side. “Charge!” he yelled again and again before he pushed forward toward a police line while yelling, “Motherf-----s!” the government says.
He and other rioters then fell to the ground. After other rioters lifted him up, video disclosed as evidence in other Jan. 6 trials shows, he tried to appeal to officers protecting the Capitol, telling them that he was an officer, too.
Fischer previously served as a police officer in North Cornwall Township, Pennsylvania. (Another man named Joseph Fisher, who was also a police officer, was recently sentenced to 20 months in prison for his own role on Jan. 6.)
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the government's view of the law's reach "defies the most plausible understanding" of the statute in question, 18 U.S. Code 1512. The provision carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The Justice Department's interpretation would "criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists alike to decades in prison," he added.
To prove a violation, prosecutors now have to show that the defendant "impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or ... other things used in the proceeding," Roberts wrote.
The closely watched case focuses on a charge that former President Donald Trump also faces in his election interference case.
By Lawrence Hurley and Ryan J. Reilly
June 28, 2024
Supreme Court rules for Jan. 6 rioter challenging obstruction charge
The closely watched case focuses on a charge that former President Donald Trump also faces in his election interference case.
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a former police officer who is seeking to throw out an obstruction charge for joining the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The justices in a 6-3 vote on nonideological lines handed a win to defendant Joseph Fischer, who is among hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants — including former President Donald Trump — who have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding over the effort to prevent Congress' certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
The court concluded that the law, enacted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act after the Enron accounting scandal, was only intended to apply to more limited circumstances involving forms of evidence tampering, not the much broader array of situations that prosecutors had claimed it covered.
The provision targets anyone who "obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so," but the court determined that its scope is limited by a preceding sentence in the statute referring to altering or destroying records.
Joseph Fischer, second left, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The court sent the case back to lower courts for further proceedings on whether the Justice Department could still prosecute Fischer under the new interpretation of the law.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that he was disappointed by the decision because of the impact it would have on the Justice Department's Jan. 6 cases, although he stressed it would not affect the bulk of them.
The ruling "limits an important federal statute that the department has sought to use to ensure that those most responsible for that attack face appropriate consequences," he added.
But the decision was celebrated by Trump, who said the Supreme Court "did the right thing" in Fischer's case.
"They've been waiting for this decision for a long time. They've been waiting for a long time, and that was a great answer. That was a great thing for people who have been so horribly treated," Trump told supporters Friday at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia.
On Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors said, Fischer joined the crowd breaching the Capitol from the east side. “Charge!” he yelled again and again before he pushed forward toward a police line while yelling, “Motherf-----s!” the government says.
He and other rioters then fell to the ground. After other rioters lifted him up, video disclosed as evidence in other Jan. 6 trials shows, he tried to appeal to officers protecting the Capitol, telling them that he was an officer, too.
Fischer previously served as a police officer in North Cornwall Township, Pennsylvania. (Another man named Joseph Fisher, who was also a police officer, was recently sentenced to 20 months in prison for his own role on Jan. 6.)
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the government's view of the law's reach "defies the most plausible understanding" of the statute in question, 18 U.S. Code 1512. The provision carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The Justice Department's interpretation would "criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists alike to decades in prison," he added.
To prove a violation, prosecutors now have to show that the defendant "impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or ... other things used in the proceeding," Roberts wrote.
