Supreme Court narrows use of obstruction charge in Jan. 6 cases, affecting Trump and hundreds of other defedants

Potentially upending scores of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot prosecutions — including the case against former President Donald Trump — the Supreme Court on Friday narrowed the use of a charge of obstructing an official proceeding.

In a 6-3 decision that deviated from ideological lines high court concluded that prosecutors need to hang closer to the statutory language of the obstruction charge used in a slew of Jan. 6 prosecutions.

“The Government must establish that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or as we earlier explained,...