Was Jan. 6 An Obstruction Of Congress? SCOTUS Will Decide

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2024

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than 300 defendants have been charged with obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official congressional proceeding in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection. But, so far, federal judges have disagreed about whether the statute was meant to apply only to the destruction of documents and records, not events like those on Jan 6. If the Supreme Court finds in favor of the rioters, many could see their jail sentences substantially reduced.

This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

This podcast was produced by Kelli Wessinger and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from NPR sponsor Organic Valley, a co-op of small organic family farms dedicated to producing food that promotes respect for the dignity and interdependence of all life.
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0:17.7	Hi, this is Alan, and I'm standing a slide
0:20.0	of primary in line in Greenwich, lump, where the West and East start at zero degrees,
0:25.6	zero minutes and zero seconds.
0:28.0	This podcast was recorded at 12.38 PM on Tuesday, April 16th.
0:33.4	And things may have changed by the time you hear this,
0:35.7	but I will still be admiring the spectacular views over London.
0:39.2	Well, it sounds spectacular. I love a good view.
0:45.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics.
0:49.0	I'm Maralayason, National Political Correspondent.
0:52.0	I'm Carrie Johnson.
0:52.7	I cover the Justice Department.
0:54.3	And today the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging and obstruction law that could
0:59.2	affect hundreds of defendants charged with crimes for their role in the January 6th attack on the U.S.
1:04.9	Capitol.
1:05.9	Carrie, this is a legally complex case, so I want to start as simple as possible.
1:11.0	Part of the challenge of this law is brought by a man named Joseph Fisher.
1:14.0	Who's he? Joseph Fisher was a police officer. He showed up at the Capitol on
1:19.2	January 6, 2021 and according to the charges against him he yelled charge at the other
1:25.0	riders as they entered the building he engaged in a scuffle with a law
1:29.6	enforcement officer protecting the capital and eventually he went into the capital building itself and
	...

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