Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal of Jan. 6 charge

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a former Boston police officer charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, a decision which could upend similar charges facing hundreds of others and potentially impact the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

The justices announced Wednesday the nation’s highest court will hear the case brought by defendant Joseph Fischer, who asked the court to dismiss a charge of obstructing an official proceeding. 

Fischer was arrested at his Plymouth home in March and faces a seven-count indictment. In addition to the obstructing an official proceeding charge, Fischer was also charged with assaulting an officer, a charge to which he reportedly planned to plead guilty. Prosecutors allege Fischer attacked a Capitol police officer with a chair during the riot.

More than 300 people have been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Capitol riot, which took place as then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were certifying the electoral votes in President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.

Fischer and other defendants charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot have called for the case to be dismissed and argued that the charge against them —  based on a 2002 law passed in response to the Enron scandal — does not apply to alleged participants.

The obstruction charge against Fischer and others carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

In April, a three-judge appeals court panel reversed a federal judge’s 2022 ruling to dismiss the obstruction of an official proceeding charge against Fischer and three other defendants. 

Following the collapse of Enron in 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which increased protections for corporate and finance investors and whistleblowers and makes it a crime to “corruptly” tamper with evidence for use in an official proceeding or “otherwise” obstruct that proceeding. 

Arguments for Fischer’s case will begin as early as March, and a decision could come by summertime.

The Supreme Court’s decision to review Fischer’s case could have implications for the hundreds of other cases, including Trump’s, who is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding in the indictment earlier this year brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, The Associated Press reports.

Trump’s pending trial on those charges, slated to start March 4, may be impacted by the court’s decision, according to AP. The Supreme Court is also separately considering Trump’s assertion that he is immune from prosecution for actions taken as part of his presidential office, a claim rejected by a lower court. 

Earlier this year, a Florida pastor and his son were found guilty of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disruptive or disorderly conduct in a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct on the grounds of the Capitol.

In May, four leaders of the far-right organization the Proud Boys, including former national chairman 39-year-old Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, were convicted of seditious conspiracy for involvement in the Capitol riot.

Four members of another far-right organization, the Oath Keepers, were found guilty in June of seditious conspiracy and other charges for their part in the riot. 

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