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Tipsheet

Federal Judge: Capitol Hill Rioters' Charges Might Be Unconstitutional

Federal Judge: Capitol Hill Rioters' Charges Might Be Unconstitutional
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

There’s going to be a rally in Washington DC this weekend. It’s why the fencing is going back up around the US Capitol Building. There have been over 400 arrests stemming from the January 6 riot that has incorrectly been dubbed an armed insurrection. It was not worse than 9/11. It was not worse than Pearl Harbor and it sure wasn’t as bad as the Civil War. That’s the narrative in newsrooms. Everyone else has moved the hell on with their lives. NO ONE cares. MSNBC and CNN don’t count. It was not our nation’s best day. It was dark for sure—but it was a riot. Nothing more. And at the end of the day, what occurred were many instances of trespassing on federal property. Only one person died inside the building. Her name was Ashli Babbitt, and she was killed by Capitol Police. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who the liberal media erroneously said was killed by the rioters, died of natural causes. And what the hell happened to the guy who planted pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic Parties? 

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In the meantime, some of the jail sentences prosecutors are gunning for are outrageous. Now, a federal judge has concerns about the constitutionality of the charges (via The Hill):

A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether the obstruction of an official proceeding charge that has been levied against at least 235 defendants in Capitol riot cases is unconstitutionally vague. 

During a lengthy hearing Wednesday for the conspiracy case involving 18 members of the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta for the District of Columbia asked about the determinations prosecutors used to file a felony charge of “obstructing an official proceeding” of Congress. 

“Essentially, what you said is, ‘Trust us,’?” Mehta said, according to The Washington Post.

“And that is a real problem when it comes to criminal statutes, to suggest, ‘We know it when we see it, and we’ll pick and choose when it is an appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.’?”

Defense attorneys, including David W. Fischer, who is representing co-defendant Thomas Edward Caldwell, have argued that the felony charge was not being properly applied to the case, claiming that the congressional certification of Electoral College votes did not meet the definition of an “official proceeding.” 

The felony charge, which has been brought against Capitol riot defendants in addition to other misdemeanor offenses, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

[…]

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Moss also expressed questions on the charge in a separate hearing last month, noting that the government must present a clear differentiation between obstructing an official proceeding and lesser charges that carry maximum punishments of six months in prison. 

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Judge Mehta is an Obama appointee. The plan for Democrats is to use this to gin up the base ahead of a midterm election year since Joe Biden isn’t giving his party many accomplishments to tout on the stump. It was never about the truth. It was about the narrative. Trump, his supporters, the GOP, rural Americans—we’re all Nazis. That’s the line. Yet, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. That moment came when Afghanistan collapsed last month, and Joe Biden decided to leave Americans behind because he didn’t want to make the Taliban mad by extending the August 31 departure deadline. The Taliban rejected any extension, and we caved. We caved to terrorists. 

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