A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that potentially hundreds of defendants charged for their actions at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot had their sentences improperly lengthened, raising the possibility that many will have to be resentenced.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Jan. 6 defendants who allegedly obstructed Congress‘s efforts to certify the 2020 election had their sentences improperly lengthened by federal judges who determined they had interfered with the “administration of justice.”
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit rejected the Justice Department’s argument in an appeal brought by Larry Brock, who was sentenced to two years in prison for obstructing congressional proceedings. U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, had determined Brock’s sentence by including the enhancement for interfering with the administration of justice.
BREAKING: House Speaker Mike Johnson to release 5,000 additional hours of January 6 footage.
— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) March 1, 2024
“Brock’s interference with one stage of the electoral college vote-counting process — while no doubt endangering our democratic processes and temporarily derailing Congress’s constitutional work — did not interfere with the ‘administration of justice,’” D.C. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett wrote in a unanimous ruling, joined by Judges Cornelia Pillard and Judith Rogers.
Today Jakes father, Ned Lang, stood outside the DC courthouse in the pouring rain pleading that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! “Get off of our sofas, get out of the house, get out to the streets, peaceful protest. Hold these judges accountable , hold the DOJ accountable, the FBI accountable… pic.twitter.com/iiwFg1knBc
— Jake Lang – January 6 Political Prisoner 🇺🇸 (@JakeLangJ6) February 28, 2024
The judges took into account the “multi-step” process of certifying Electoral College votes, finding that the vote counting was just one portion of an otherwise lengthy process to affirm the results of the 2020 election. They effectively said that counting the votes in Congress that day did not meet the definition of “administration of justice,” and, therefore, anyone sentenced for participating in the riot should not face additional penalties for interfering with it.
Justice Department officials, along with the U.S. Probation Office, argued that the presence of Capitol Police and other security personnel in the Capitol complex that day added to their assertion that the session was about administering justice, though the three-judge panel disagreed.
It is unclear how many cases will be affected by the decision, though more than 330 defendants have been charged with obstruction under a statute known as Section 1512(c)(2). The Supreme Court in April is planning to weigh whether the obstruction charges were misapplied to Jan. 6 rioters more broadly in a case surrounding Joseph Fischer, a former police officer who briefly went inside the Capitol.
William Shipley, an attorney who has represented several Jan. 6 defendants, including “Qanon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, told the Washington Examiner that the reverberations from the D.C. Circuit’s decision are “potentially huge.”
“But it will be meaningless if the Supreme Court throws out 1512 in the Fischer case,” Shipley said, noting that the forthcoming case could potentially upend obstruction charges for every defendant sentenced under that statute for their actions on the day of the riot.
“Basically, if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Fischer, what it’s saying is the statute doesn’t apply to the proceedings on Jan. 6, it wouldn’t apply to anybody,” Shipley said.
Big news coming later this morning on January 6 tapes….. pic.twitter.com/WsiyBCcrTQ
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) March 1, 2024
Because of the potentially wide scope of cases covered under the D.C. Circuit’s ruling, Shipley said, “You might see a flood of motions for release pending appeal” from defendants currently in prison whose sentencing included an enhancement for interfering with the administration of justice, noting that defendants would likely file such motions in an effort to avoid serving an over-extended sentence.
The Supreme Court is gearing up for oral arguments in Fischer’s case on April 16.
Trump himself is facing the exact same count in special counsel Jack Smith‘s case, which accuses the 2024 Republican presidential primary leader of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election after his loss. Trump, like other Jan. 6 defendants, is charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
The “indictment takes a statute directed at the destruction of records in accounting fraud and applies it to disputing the outcome of a Presidential election,” the attorneys wrote. “This stretches the statutory language beyond any plausible mooring to its text.”
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NEW – U.S. federal agents arrest journalist Steve Baker in handcuffs for his reporting on January 6. Video:
BREAKING: @BlazeTV’s investigate journalist Steve Baker has been charged with 4 misdemeanors.
Baker is being prosecuted over his coverage of January 6.
This is an awful day for journalism.
Pray for @TPC4USA as he’s getting ready for his first appearance in court. pic.twitter.com/cobIMLN606
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) March 1, 2024
Steve Baker is an American Journalist who is getting harassed by the FBI because he was at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. If the DOJ in the USA has this man arrested by the FBI this will prove that First Amendment FREE Press is being violated by the current Biden Regime… pic.twitter.com/SygTnjgF7d
— Corinne Cliford 🇺🇸 (@corinnecliford) February 25, 2024
BREAKING: A Judge in Illinois just ruled that Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the US Presidency because he violated the 14th Amendment’s Insurrection Clause, in the events leading up to January 6.
I believe we should allow the courts to make these decisions.… pic.twitter.com/gJ8hZOhUYd
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) February 29, 2024
Eric Thompson