In the wake of a June Supreme Court decision, the Biden Department of Justice has dropped nearly half of the pending obstruction charges against defendants involved in the Jan. 6 protests. The ruling, in Fischer v. United States, found that the DOJ had applied an obstruction statute too broadly in charging many protesters.
The obstruction statute carries a potential 20-year sentence, but the Supreme Court clarified that prosecutors must prove that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity of records or other materials used in an official proceeding. As of Sept. 6, about 60 of the 126 defendants with pending obstruction charges have had those charges dismissed.
The DOJ has confirmed it is still pursuing charges for 13 other defendants and is assessing its course of action for the remaining cases. The DOJ also noted that no defendant charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 was charged solely under that statute, meaning all defendants still face additional charges.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a concurring opinion, suggested that obstruction charges could still be pursued in cases where a defendant attempted to impair materials used in the Jan. 6 proceedings. The DOJ is also reviewing previously adjudicated cases, with about 40 set to have charges dismissed or vacated.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has forced the DOJ to reconsider many of its prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 protests, significantly altering the landscape of these cases.
