The Supreme Court's decision on Friday in Fischer v. U.S. struck down one of the most common charges against January 6 defendants. "Obstruction of an official proceeding" had been used in hundreds of cases, and those convictions are now invalid.

But the biggest impact of the decision may occur elsewhere.

For years, calling January 6 an "insurrection" has been a litmus test for press, pundits and politicians. Members of Congress such as Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) claimed a conspiracy of “armed and organized insurrectionists.” The claim is legally absurd but politically advantageous.

It now seems like the insurrection increasingly looks more like a legal case of mass trespass and unlawful entry.

I have always believed that criminal charges were warranted for the riot of Jan. 6, 2021. But this week's decision shows how the Justice Department has wrongly prosecuted hundreds of people for the obstruction crime. It was all of what Justice Department official Michael Sherwin proudly declared in a television interview, that “our office wanted to ensure that there was shock and awe...it worked because we saw through media posts that people were afraid to come back to D.C. because they’re, like, ‘If we go there, we’re gonna get charged.’ …We wanted to take out those individuals that essentially were thumbing their noses at the public for what they did.”

The Fischer opinion will bring an end to a minority of cases that were based entirely on the charge under 1512(c)(2). The section had been enacted after the Enron scandal in 2001 with the collapse of an energy company accused of corporate fraud. It was designed to allow criminal charges for the destruction of evidence in the form of documents and records.

The Justice Department chose to interpret that provision to........

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