The US Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear an appeal from a Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant which will highlight a law used to charge hundreds of people in connection with that fateful day.
The case will decide whether defendant Joseph Fischer can be charged under a 2002 law which stemmed from the Enron collapse which makes it a crime to obstruct or impede an official proceeding (like pulling a fire alarm to delay a vote?). The law has been invoked against Trump, along with 327 Capitol riot defendants – which an appeals court said the government could continue to invoke.
HUGE NEWS: The Supreme Court will take up the case of Fischer v. United States, which deals with the misapplication of ‘obstruction of an official proceeding’ charges to J6 cases.
This could result in a major victory for Donald Trump if the court strikes down the DOJ’s charges… pic.twitter.com/ZillRZtsW5
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 13, 2023
Under the Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002, anyone who “corruptly— (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so” is subject to prosecution.
A key word in the provision, “otherwise,” has been key – as nearly every judge overseeing riot-related cases in DC federal court have agreed with government prosecutors that rioters who sought to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 victory were “otherwise” obstructing that proceeding. One judge, Carl J. Nichols, ruled that “otherwise” could apply to other kinds of document-tampering.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit disagreed in a split decision, which will now go to the Supreme Court for review.
“We cannot assume, and think it unlikely, that Congress used expansive language to address such narrow concerns,” wrote Judge Florence Pan, calling Nichols’s ruling a “cramped, document-focused interpretation.”
“We cannot assume, and think it unlikely, that Congress used expansive language to address such narrow concerns,” she wrote. “We must accept, and think it far more likely, that Congress said what it meant and meant what it said.”
🚨This is huge
SCOTUS granted cert on Fischer v. US, which challenges DOJ’s use of felony charge “Obstruction of an Official Proceeding” used to convict hundreds of J6 political prisoners
This statute was intended to be used against people destroying documents
DOJ weaponized… https://t.co/INr4L1zaM7
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) December 13, 2023
Defense attorneys have argued that such a broad interpretation could put many otherwise law-abiding activists at risk of felony charges, which Judge Gregory Katsas agreed with.
While the riot involved “extreme conduct” not protected by the First Amendment, Katsas wrote, under this interpretation of the law a “peaceful protestor in the Senate gallery” could be convicted of a felony for trespassing while exercising free speech rights. Katsas argued that the law can apply beyond documents but only to people who “hinder the flow of truthful evidence to a proceeding.” -WaPo
The decision to hear the case comes just two days after special counsel Jack Smith asked the Court to fast-track a decision on whether former President Trump is entitled to presidential immunity in his 2020 election interference case. The justices could decide as soon as next week whether to expedite the review.
Democrats aren’t happy
Of course, liberal / establishment news outlets framed it as ‘interference-adjacent’ in terms of the Trump prosecution, and have implied that the timing of the case is intended to help the former president in 2024.
How the Supreme Court defines how the obstruction law can be used related to the Capitol attack could impact hundreds of criminal cases, even the pending case against former President Donald Trump, who is also charged with obstructing an official proceeding. –CNN
* * *
The US Supreme Court added a new complication to the prosecution of Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as the justices agreed to hear an appeal from a Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant facing a related charge … Ultimately, a ruling favoring Fischer could upend two of the four counts Trump is facing in the case, one of four criminal prosecutions against him. The Supreme Court will hear arguments next year and probably rule by the end of June. –Bloomberg
* * *
Trump has been charged with the same offense as well as others in his federal election interference case. The court’s decision to take up the issue, as well as the timing of its ultimate ruling, could therefore affect his case.
Trump’s lawyers could use the Supreme Court’s involvement as one opportunity to delay his election interference trial, which is scheduled to start in March. Trump is the front-runner in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, and any delay in his criminal trial in Washington would be to his benefit. –NBC News
* * *
The decision to hear the case will complicate and perhaps delay the start of Mr. Trump’s trial, now scheduled to take place in Washington in March. The Supreme Court’s ultimate ruling, which may not arrive until June, will likely address the viability of two of the main counts against Mr. Trump and could severely limit efforts by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to hold the former president accountable for the violence that his supporters committed at the Capitol. –NY Times
Of course, we know how this will be spun…
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Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse wrote a few days ago about how Mary McCord was the nexus point on all of the Trump Russia bullshit and that her husband is embedded at the Supreme Court as staff to John Roberts.
We all know (or should) that somebody got to Roberts at the last minute in 2012 forcing him to re-write his Obamacare decision. Shitting bricks, he just took a pen and crossed out the “un” of “unconstitutional”. I’ll never forget the look on his face (or the pissing draining down his leg) when the decision was made public. So, the Supreme Court is likely to have been compromised by the same Intelligence Community that worked against Trump from early 2016.
I can’t find the name of Mary McCord’s parents. There was a James W. McCord Jr who was a CIA guy and one of the Watergate burglars (who were mostly CIA guys). He was the first one to name the Nixon White House as having known of the break-in ahead of time. The CIA has been taking out presidents (with a bullet or a scandal) for a long time. Was Mary McCord born into that version of La Cosa Nostra?? James McCord died in 2017, but there was no news of it until 2 years later. https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-james-mccord-watergate-breakin-dead-20190419-story.html Final line of that story, “A list of survivors was not available.” Yeah, I’ll bet it wasn’t. Maybe because the list would have included one Mary McCord.
I read that too.
Certainly explains alot.
As he says: “once you see the strings…”
Unleash the power of Super Mega Maga Man
Ready to lock you down again, kiddoo, and, if necessary, bring moar medikil psyience to bear on the USSA. Perhaps you remember dokters Falsi and Scarf?
Jared Kushner, too, is also ready for another round of nobody-“elected”-me so go fuck yourself serfs.
(Auntie didn’t need to bring up that Donald Trump is Israel’s Best President Ever, right?)
Just for facts sake– not saying I want any more Trump insanity in our country..
The governors locked down the states, not the President
The vaccine was made and patented in 2014 ( the “novel coronavirus was lab-created in 2003) and the legal protection for deadly vaxxes was signed into law by Reagan
His biggest buffoonery is refusing to admit that the vaccine is neither safe nor effective and for showing the poor judgement to follow the “experts” like Walensky, Fauci and the Pharma/ NAIAD cabal
PS: I’m also sure that Israel is super-happy about Trump stopping the eradication of Assad and Syria– giving Russia the green light to end ISIS and keep Assad in power in Syria. Sure– the Israelis are just glib about that Iran/Iraq/Syria/Lebanon corridor that Trump ensconced by refusing to send US troops into the fray.
Yes
The President has a hundred different ways to discourage all of that and Trump did nothing but promote the kill shot.
On top of that fact, he had a Constitutional OBLIGATION to stop it.
The results speak for themselves.
Betcha not many here were opposed to poke and croak 10 years ago.
The Texas Governor listed the rules and reasons why he signed executive order pertaining to “covid” and it was AS recommended by CDC which Trump agreed with. No , Trump did not say you have to do this shit. Funny all the republicOn governors not to mention demontoads took the recommendations and locked the country down with exceptions like hardware stores , grocery stores and several other “essential” business but at reduced operating hours. This county accepted mucho $$ from Trump’s Cares Act,
The U.S. Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) in March 2020 to blunt the economic damage set in motion by the global coronavirus pandemic.
And FGA too, while we’re at it.
Wow, grace. Well you did not drop the f bomb actually. But I get what you are saying.
Recalling the turn of events duped on the peeps, I’m very sure the Subway was closed around here. Then I recall it opening and implementing the “social distancing”. We won’t “blame” Trump but who was the FP when all that came down?
Abbott has been staunch on the abortion debate. I’ll give him credit for that. Other than that Texas government officials and legislators are no different than the rest, if not corrupt bordering corrupt.
It is interesting going back to 2010 some of the individuals that began throwing their hats in the ring with the mindset of a Ron Paul. In fact gubernatorial hopeful Debra Medina had read every book Ron Paul ever read authored by Hayek, Mises, Rothbard etc. etc. The old guard good ole boy cronies within the Texas political power structure would have none of that.
Yes
Trump declared the National Emergency which allowed the Governors to assume unconstitutional powers. Some of them did it with great relish.
Merci beaucoup, TN.
Holy smokes! FJB broke his own all time universe DOW closing number today. The greatest even the great one has never witnessed.
Biden is responsible for the stock markets?
Guy’s got drive.
Kyle Becker seems more concerned about Trump than the J6 prisoners.
All of the media have TDS– either pro or con
Thanks. I’ve always said that, too: pro-Trumpers are just as bad. He is SO not the answer. The system is rotten. It doesn’t need a new logo/figurehead to “drain” it. It needs abandonment.
The last guy who tried – JFK – was murdered in broad daylight, and it’s never been fully investigated. In fact, Orange Jesus swore that he’d look into it – and then said that we, the people, wouldn’t be able to handle the facts of the case.
JFK retired to Fire Island with Lem.
The party staged the assassination.
John Fruitcake Kennedy was a faggot.
The womanizing was the “beard” story provided by the publicists to cover up his faggotry.
Jackie and the kids?
From Soviet Central Casting
Who keeps changing your battery?
No one.
Whenever I run down, I reach back and pull the string myself!
Well,we knew it had to happen(as it does every year!),12 days till Christmas and so,The 12 Paons Of Christmas,I always enjoyed this little ditty!
I can relate to the guy”rigging up these lights”,he loses it.
“Get a flashlight,I blew a fuse!”
“Now why the hell are the blinking?!”
“One bulb goes out/they all go out!”
Anyhow,hope folks enjoy it!
[Apologies 12 days of Christmas]
The 12 Mondegreens of This-list”
1. Excuse me, while I kiss this guy
2. Give me The Beach Boys and free my soul
3. Hold me closer, Tony Danza
4. Don’t go, Jason Waterfalls
5. No docks or chasms in the classroom
6. ‘I’ll never be your pizza burnin’
7. I want to rock and roll all night, and part of every day
8. This is the dawning of the Age of Asparagus”
9. “Like a virgin, touched for the 31st time”
10. “I like big butts in a can of limes”
11. “Then I saw her fez, now I’m gonna leave her”
12. “I want to hold your ham.”
~Eud
“Life would be ecstasy,
You and me and Leslie”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Right.
It’s a crime to disrupt government.
But when they disrupt a flesh and blood human? It’s for the greater good.
“Under the Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002, anyone who “corruptly— (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so” is subject to prosecution.”
For Gods sake, you know how many of TPTB this applies to?
just remember glock,
i play the man during saturday night entertainment–
Seems like the use of “Corporate” in the title suggests the law is intended to apply to corporations, though not necessarily to Government or other corrupt institutions such as crime syndicates or Congress. The excessive use of “or” is suggestive of mental fatigue on the part of the writers of the law.
The use of “otherwise” is confusing, as is the use of “corruptly”.
Lack of clarity promotes The Full Employment Act for Lawyers.
No Lawyer Left Behind.
Oh the courtroom drama !
Yeah, I would think all the video showing police and Leo’s overseeing the entire fucking fake coup.
Fucking commicrats got away with it.
Everyone can make $98 or more in a month. I am a full-time college student$$
Everybody copy & open now……..𝐆𝐞𝐭.𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲𝟒𝟗.𝐜𝐨𝐦
who works 3 to 4 hours every day on this job and earns thousands of dollars per month