The Supreme Court’s recent decision to take a case challenging how the Justice Department prosecutes January 6 rioters has already put on hold several rioters’ sentencings and could affect hundreds more cases—including Donald Trump’s.
If the challenge is successful, the Supreme Court could potentially wipe away two of the four counts that special counsel Jack Smith has brought against the former president in his federal election interference case, and upend felony convictions for dozens of January 6 rioters.
The former president’s lawyers plan to make challenges in his case around the obstruction law if it returns to the trial judge before the Supreme Court rules, a source has told CNN.
The special counsel’s office has already argued that appeals over the obstruction charge shouldn’t affect Trump, because his alleged crimes included falsifying electoral vote certificates and sending them to Congress, according to a previous court filing.
Several defense attorneys representing January 6 rioters are deciding whether to ask for relief in the DC District Court, while some have already attempted to pause upcoming trials or sentencings, according to people familiar with their strategies.
A Trump supporter who had traveled from Texas for the January 6 rally in Washington, DC, Harkrider had argued his case was directly affected because he said the primary felony charge he faced was obstruction.
Rioters accused of violence toward police — those more likely to be awaiting their trials and sentencings in jail — are less likely to be affected significantly by the Supreme Court’s obstruction ruling, because of the seriousness of assault charges.
The original article contains 1,213 words, the summary contains 224 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
If the challenge is successful, the Supreme Court could potentially wipe away two of the four counts that special counsel Jack Smith has brought against the former president in his federal election interference case, and upend felony convictions for dozens of January 6 rioters.
The former president’s lawyers plan to make challenges in his case around the obstruction law if it returns to the trial judge before the Supreme Court rules, a source has told CNN.
The special counsel’s office has already argued that appeals over the obstruction charge shouldn’t affect Trump, because his alleged crimes included falsifying electoral vote certificates and sending them to Congress, according to a previous court filing.
Several defense attorneys representing January 6 rioters are deciding whether to ask for relief in the DC District Court, while some have already attempted to pause upcoming trials or sentencings, according to people familiar with their strategies.
A Trump supporter who had traveled from Texas for the January 6 rally in Washington, DC, Harkrider had argued his case was directly affected because he said the primary felony charge he faced was obstruction.
Rioters accused of violence toward police — those more likely to be awaiting their trials and sentencings in jail — are less likely to be affected significantly by the Supreme Court’s obstruction ruling, because of the seriousness of assault charges.
The original article contains 1,213 words, the summary contains 224 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!