Supreme Court Decision on January 6 Rioters' Prosecutions Could Impact Hundreds of Cases

Implications of the Supreme Court Decision

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 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.

Since the Supreme Court agreed last month to take the case, Fischer v. US, more than a dozen January 6 defendants have already asked judges to halt their upcoming sentencings and trials. While some judges have balked, others have agreed to delays for the rioters in a handful of cases.

Last week, one convicted rioter already in jail successfully won an early release set for May. That rioter, Alexander Sheppard, will serve only six months of his 19-month sentence. Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, he may be free after that or be forced to return to prison to finish out his sentence.

Challenge to DOJ Conviction Strategy

The case, brought by Joseph Fischer, a former police patrolman from central Pennsylvania who was convicted of obstruction for charging the police line at the Capitol, cuts to the heart of how the DOJ has secured felony convictions against hundreds of January 6 rioters. In those cases, the DOJ successfully argued they committed a felony by obstructing a federal proceeding.

The question raised by Fischer is whether that law could apply to congressional proceedings like the certification of the 2020 election that was disrupted on January 6, 2021.

That is the same law that Smith used to secure an indictment on two of the charges against Trump in the federal election interference case. 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.

Rioters Asking for Relief

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. That includes both lawyers working for the federal public defender service, as well as private attorneys.

'The opportunity is for these cases to be reversed,' Kira West, a defense attorney for January 6 rioters. 'It was a happy day for me when it happened. I think the court is thinking about reversing the case.'

The outcome at the Supreme Court is likely to have the greatest impact on riot defendants whose sole felony count is obstruction of an official proceeding -- in other words, those who weren't violent during the riot.