Former President Donald Trump took little time to share a social media post hailing the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of people who took part on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.
The high court on Friday made it harder to charge Jan. 6 defendants with obstruction, a charge that also has been brought against Trump.
"In a massive victory for J6 political prisoners and an unprecedented defeat for the corrupt Biden/Garland/Monaco/Graves DOJ, SCOTUS has overturned the DOJ’s use of 1512(c)(2), obstruction of an official proceeding, in J6 cases," author Julie Kelly wrote in an X post that was shared by Trump on Truth Social.
"THIS MEANS THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS UNLAWFULLY PROSECUTED 350+ AMERICANS FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION IN JANUARY 6—A FLAGRANT ABUSE OF THE LAW TO PUNISH THOSE WHO PROTESTED BIDEN’S ELECTION AND TO CRIMINALIZE POLITICAL DISSENT."
The justices ruled that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding, enacted in 2002 in response to the financial scandal that brought down Enron Corp., must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents.
Only some of the Jan. 6 defendants fall into that category.
The decision could affect special counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump in Washington, D.C. Smith has accused the former president of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
Among Supreme Court rulings expected Monday is whether Trump has immunity from prosecution.
The former president appealed a lower courts rejection of his request to be shielded from four election-related criminal charges on the grounds that he was serving as president when he took the actions that led to the indictment obtained by Smith.
During arguments in the case in April, the court's conservative justices signaled support for former U.S. presidents having some level of protection from criminal charges for certain acts that they had taken in office, but seemed unlikely to embrace Trump's most far-reaching bid for "absolute immunity."
The Supreme Court's eventual ruling may narrow the special counsel's allegations against Trump, but it appeared that at least parts of the indictment may survive. The decision could further delay Trump's trial, which previously had been scheduled for March.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is expected to oppose President Joe Biden in November’s election.
However after a shaky performance in the first presidential debate Thursday night, Biden has heard Democrat calls for him to drop out of the race.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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