Supreme Court justices aired concerns Tuesday that the government has used a particular criminal statute to charge defendants connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including former President Donald Trump.
At oral arguments, justices in the conservative majority probed whether the Justice Department had exceeded the scope of a statute that permits up to a 20-year prison sentence for people convicted of “corruptly” obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch brought up other potential actions to see whether they would qualify for prosecution under the statute that the Justice Department has used in hundreds of cases related to the Jan. 6 attack.
