A Hiccup in the Prosecution of the January 6th Defendants

April 10, 2023

by Clarice Feldman American Thinker

In a 107-page split opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia may well have torched the outrageous overcharging of hundreds of people who peacefully walked through the Capitol, a public building, on January 6, 2021.

The question before the court was whether the phrase “obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2)” warrants charging those who peacefully walked through the Capitol with felonies.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia means that the charge — the obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress — can continue to be used in the Justice Department’s prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 riot. It could also ultimately be used against Mr. Trump should the special counsel, Jack Smith, decide to file a case against him related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.