'Obstruction of an official proceeding carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
A felony statute criminalizing obstruction of government proceedings can be used to prosecute members of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The decision empowers prosecutors pursuing hundreds of cases involving participants in the Capitol riot, while blessing an interpretation of the law that both judges and lawmakers have argued applies to former president Donald Trump.
The House committee that investigated Jan. 6 urged the Justice Department to prosecute Trump himself of obstructing Congress, and a grand jury in D.C. is investigating the former president’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. A
federal judge in California has written that Trump “more likely than not” committed the obstruction crime by summoning a crowd to march on Congress.'
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/07/obstruction-charge-jan6-ruling-constitutional/
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