Supreme Court grapples with obstruction charge lobbed at 350 Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump

The Supreme Court struggled Tuesday with the government’s case against 350 defendants from the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol, with justices pondering how a law written in the aftermath of the Enron document-shredding scandal could be applied to those who delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

The law criminalizes obstructing or impeding an official proceeding. The Biden administration says it goes beyond courtrooms and criminal investigations and covers Congress’ electoral vote count.

Republican-appointed justices repeatedly challenged the Justice Department’s aggressive use of the law against the Jan. 6 defendants. They questioned why the law wasn’t applied to rioters who attacked the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, in 2020 or Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who disrupted a critical vote in the House last year by pulling a fire alarm.