The file was handed over to the sages by Joseph Fischer’s lawyers, “one of nearly 300 people charged by the Justice Department with ‘obstructing official proceedings’ during the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.”, observed Fox News.
According to his advice, the federal law providing for this compensation “should not apply” because it was only used in “cases of falsification of evidence”adds the conservative channel.
Charge “carries a maximum sentence of 20 years (in prison) and is part of a law enacted following the discovery of massive fraud and document destruction during the collapse of energy giant Enron”, remind him The Washington Post.
Six of the Supreme Court’s nine justices – five conservatives and one progressive – ruled that the criteria for using this law in proceedings against insurgents at the Capitol were not met.
Because in order to claim that, the prosecution must “determine that the defendant has endangered the availability or integrity of records, documents or items intended for use in official proceedings”said Chief Justice John Roberts.
Limited consequences
“The Supreme Court’s decision could affect ongoing lawsuits” but also “to interfere with already adjudicated cases, since those convicted of violating obstruction laws or who plead guilty can request a review of their convictions, withdraw their guilty pleas, or request a new trial”, Note CBS News.
“There are fifty-two cases in which the accused was convicted and sentenced” for the only criminal offense of obstructing official proceedings, the American channel points out. Between them, “twenty-seven of them are currently in prison”.
Justice Secretary Merrick Garland condemned the Supreme Court’s decision, which he said hampers the government’s efforts to hold accountable the main perpetrators of the Capitol attack. “an unprecedented attack on our institutional system”.
But he believes the consequences for prosecution will be limited: of the more than 1,400 people accused of participating in the riots, less than 18 percent have been prosecuted or convicted on charges of obstructing official proceedings.
“Trump’s new triumph”
One of them is none other than former President Donald Trump, “prosecuted for this crime in the case because of his own attempt to annul the outcome of the election”, REMARK El País.
“Trump did not directly participate in the storming of the Capitol, but his attempts to obstruct the official process of declaring Biden’s election victory were carried out by other means” adds the Spanish Journal.
The Supreme Court decision should allow her lawyers to overturn it “two out of four” charges against him.
“After Thursday’s debate in Atlanta“therefore it is “a new triumph for Trump”who is also awaiting the Magistrate’s decision on his presidential immunity, the Madrid headline points out.
The Supreme Court, however, was not lenient towards the gray eminence of the former president: “Steve Bannon will have to report to prison on Monday (July 1) after the nation’s highest court refused to grant his request for a last-minute reprieve”, reports The Daily Beast.
70-year-old right-wing populist ideologue “he was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022 for contempt of Congress after refusing a subpoena from a House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol” page reminds.