This is not normal. This cannot become normal. We as a community, we as a society, we as a country cannot condone the normalization republican insurrection of the January 6 Capitol attack.
The script-flipping here is a remarkable: rather than focus on the severity and precedent of what’s before them - whether #Trump should be prosecuted for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election - they appear focused on the potential for a future president to be frivolously prosecuted. There appears to be little concern among the conservative justices for the substance and significance of the #Jan6 case. #SCOTUS
"The DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that all participants in the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol can be charged with disorderly or disruptive conduct — even if they were personally not destroying property or acting violently."
JUST IN: #SCOTUS signals it may undermine more common #Jan6 charges as justices ask DOJ to respond to petition challenging 'disorderly or disruptive' charges v. Russell Alford. DC Cir ruled charges valid even for nonviolent protesters.
DOJ had deemed Alford's petition unworthy of a response, but today #SCOTUS asked for one
#Pence did fail Donald #Trump but he succeeded in defending nearly 250 years of peaceful transition of power that was taken from every American on #Jan6.
How disloyal of Mike Pence not supporting the guy that tried to have him killed.
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#Noem: I think Mike #Pence has failed Donald #Trump since #Jan6 because he certainly does not recognize that we need someone in The White House who needs him out on the trail advocating for him instead of constantly criticizing him
BREAKING: Just left the courtroom of Judge #Chutkan, where she has handed down her longest #Jan6 sentence to date — 66 months — to Scott Miller, a former Maryland #ProudBoy who harbored extreme and violent views about Jews and minorities (but promised the court he had disavowed).
“#Trump could have cleared up confusion and hastened the arrival of National Guard troops to quell the Capitol riot if he’d called Pentagon leaders on #Jan6, according to recent closed-door congressional testimony by two former leaders of the D.C. guard.
You’d expect your average American not to know the outcomes of these cases, but quite something for a #SCOTUS justice to just say something factually wrong on the bench when it’s about incidents that happened in their own workplace.
Lawrence Hurley:
During #Jan6 argument today, Justice Alito said people who have disrupted Supreme Court proceedings have not faced jail time. That's not correct.
“The Supreme Court's conservative majority appeared skeptical of the Justice Department's position during oral arguments over whether a federal obstruction law can be used to prosecute some of the rioters [sic] involved in the #Jan6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.” #SCOTUS
#SCOTUS is hearing a challenge today to a federal #law prosecutors used to charge >350 people who attacked the Capitol on #Jan6.
>100 have been convicted & sentenced under the statute for obstructing or impeding an ofcl proceeding—the joint session that convened to confirm Biden’s victory.
The case could impact #Trump’s federal trial in DC for trying to remain in power, 2 charges he faces are based on the same #obstruction statute.
Justice #ClarenceThomas — lobbed the first challenge to Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar’s argument in favor (shocker) of the #obstruction of Congress #convictions.
“There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings,” Thomas said. “Has the government applied this provision to other protests in the past? And has this been the government’s position throughout the life span of the statute?”
#Conservatives, including members of Congress who wrote briefs to the court in advance of this argument, say the #DOJ is showing partisanship by using the #law to punish supporters of #Trump but not against liberal protesters who have disrupted congressional hearings. Prelogar pushed back on that idea.
“We have enforced it in a variety of prosecutions that don’t focus on #evidence tampering,” #Prelogar said.“Now, I can’t give you an example of enforcing it in a situation where people have violently stormed a bldg in order to prevent an ofcl proceeding, a specified one, from occurring w/all of the elements like intent to obstruct, knowledge of the proceeding, having the ‘corruptly’ mens rea. But that’s just because I’m not aware of that circumstance ever happening prior to #Jan6.” #law#SCOTUS
Justices #Alito & #Kavanaugh questioned the #DOJ’s use of the “obstruction of an official proceeding” charge, & whether Congress meant to turn illegal & disruptive protesting, a #misdemeanor punishable by only a year or less in prison, into a #felony that carries a potential 20-yr sentence.
Wasn’t it odd to tuck such a broad, “catchall” obstruction prohibition (under the govt’s interpretation) that carries such a severe penalty in the middle of a statute, #Kavanaugh asked. And was it not extreme to accept its 20-yr max penalty, when a similar offense in the next provision carried only a 3-yr penalty, #Alito asked. #SCOTUS#Jan6#law
US Sol Gen #Prelogar said no, she didn’t think it was odd; it was in exactly the right place. Congress wrote the statute to broadly prohibit #obstruction offenses &the provision in question followed a passage that punishes the #crime of killing witnesses w/an even stiffer penalty—up to life in prison.
Prelogar also noted that fed sentencing guidelines for actual #Jan6 defendants who are first offenders &who plead guilty are far lower: 10-16 mos for #violent offenders, & 6-12 mos for #nonviolent.
“I’m not a fan of Begay,” #Alito acknowledged. Justice Elena #Kagan said she wasn’t swayed by Begay either, because in 2011 a majority of the court — including Alito & #ClarenceThomas — ruled the opposite way in a case involving someone fleeing police.
“A few years later, we said, ‘Where did that come from? We made it up!’ And we get rid of the whole thing,” she said. “So that’s not a great advertisement for” Joseph Fischer’s take.