The US Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear a case that will determine whether January 6 Capitol Riot defendants can be charged with “obstructing an official proceeding” if their alleged actions do not relate to an investigation or evidence.

In Fischer v. United States, the court will consider whether the federal indictment against Capitol Riot defendant Joseph Fischer substantiates a charge under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2), which prosecutors say prohibits “corruptly” obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding.

According to prosecutors, Fischer, a former police officer, entered the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, with a group of rioters and assaulted police officers on the day Congress was to certify the electoral college results of the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors say that Fischer’s actions obstructed the certification process and constituted an offense under § 1512(c)(2). However, Ficsher argues that the government’s interpretation is overbroad and that § 1512(c)(2) must be interpreted together with the preceding subsection, § 1512(c)(1), which prohibits interfering with a document or record to obstruct an official proceeding.

US District Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump appointee, dismissed the obstructing an official proceeding charge against Fischer as well as codefendants Edward Lang and Garret Miller in March 2022, agreeing that the scope of § 1512(c)(2) is limited to actions relating to a “document, record, or other object.”  However, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit reinstated the charges in a 2-1 ruling, which held that § 1512(c)(2) “applies to all forms of corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding” despite the presence of the term “otherwise” at the beginning of the subsection.

Besides obstructing an official proceeding, Fischer faces charges of:

• civil disorder;
• assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers;
• entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
• disorderly conduct in a restricted building;
• disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and
• parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.

More than 1000 defendants have been charged in relation to the Capitol Riot, and more than 310 have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding. On Wednesday, the DC Circuit paused former President Donald Trump’s January 6-related criminal case as the court examines his claim of “presidential immunity.” The Supreme Court also agreed to weigh Trump’s claim on Monday.