The Supreme Court put many of the felony charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol in doubt in a 6-3 ruling on Friday by significantly narrowing the scope of a law used against hundreds of criminal defendants.
The decision determined that an obstruction law passed after a corporate accounting scandal is applicable only in the context of tampering with or removing documents and other records. Depending on what plays out in the lower courts, it could take away a potent tool that prosecutors have used liberally against many of the Jan. 6 rioters and force the resentencing of some defendants already convicted under a broader reading of the statute.
Most of the Capitol riot defendants have been charged with misdemeanors like entering or remaining in a restricted area. But in at least 350 cases, prosecutors have relied on a felony charge that criminalizes corruptly obstructing or impeding an official proceeding. Adding this felony charge carries the possibility of up to two decades in prison as a maximum sentence.