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A ruling earlier this year by the Supreme Court regarding obstruction charges is finally having an impact on some of the January 6 defendants.
The Department of Justice has been forced to drop some charges while repacking others to meet the court’s definition.
In case you missed the ruling, the court all but eliminated the idea of charging January 6 rioters with sedition and insurrection, narrowing down the definition of obstruction considerably from what the DOJ used to prosecute these cases.
Big Blow to Garland’s Case
According to reports, there were about 260 defendants who were charged with obstruction.
Some of those cases were some of the most severely penalized defendants, such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
MSN reported, “In a court filing Monday, prosecutors said that each defendant has been offered a plea deal that does not include the obstruction charge. Should they decline that deal, prosecutors said, they would move to dismiss the charge and take the men to trial on other alleged crimes.
“If prosecutors elected not to drop the obstruction charge, there would likely be lengthy litigation over whether the obstruction charge could be presented to a jury.”
Of the convictions thus far, there are about 130 cases that were also facing other charges, however, there were 17 who only faced obstruction charges, so the DOJ will have to figure out if it will re-present or set them free.
Of course, this also impacts the case against Donald Trump, as I believe he had two charges that were related to obstruction in his case.
Currently, Trump’s January 6 case is on hold pending the outcome of the presidential immunity case, which was kicked back down to the lower courts by the Supreme Court to define the alleged crimes committed.
