The statute used by the prosecution has not shown evidence that “the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records.”
The Supreme Court released its ruling on Fischer v. United States finding that the statute the Justice Department has used to prosecute January 6 defendants requires evidence that “the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records.” The case, brought by a former police officer, centered around the use of the “obstruction of an official proceeding” statute with which hundreds of people, who were present during the protests at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, have been charged.
During oral arguments, the justices indicated that the Justice Department’s broad application of the statute, which the defendant maintained applies to evidence tampering in a congressional investigation, was casting a very broad net. On Friday, the majority of the court found that there must be evidence of obstruction to prove the law has been violated.
In her concurrence with the decision, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated that the court rightly vacated the judgment of obstructing “a proceeding before Congress, specifically, Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote,” remanding the case to the lower court for proof of obstruction.
Justice Brown Jackson wrote, “It beggars belief that Congress would have inserted a breathtakingly broad, first-of-its-kind criminal obstruction statute (accompanied by a substantial 20-year maximum penalty) in the midst of a significantly more granular series of obstruction prohibitions without clarifying its intent to do so—not in the text of the provision itself, nor in the surrounding statutory context, nor in any statement issued during the enactment process.“
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for the justices as they prepare to release the final decisions of this term.
- For Chief Justice Roberts to be led by the Lord as he heads the Supreme Court.
- For the prisoners who have been held regarding their participation in the January 6 protests.
Sources: The Supreme Court, Townhall, The Hill
