Principal Lou Manzo (Washington, DC) recently spoke with CNN on what could happen if the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had the authority to use a federal obstruction law when charging the January 6 insurrectionists.

Lou indicted, tried, and convicted 25 Oath Keepers for sedition and other crimes related to their efforts to thwart the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election. Most of the guilty defendants in the January 6 insurrection charged with obstruction were also charged with additional felonies or misdemeanors.

Lou explained that for someone to be charged with obstruction, an individual “knew what was going on inside the Capitol and that they took actions consistent with depriving Congress of their ability to act.” Lou added that an obstruction charge “carries on paper a lot of weight,” but “it doesn’t always carry that much influence as sentencing.”

B&D’s litigators pursue major environmental cases nationwide, including in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the firm recently secured a victory for a natural gas pipeline client in Ohio v. EPA relating to the CAA and are preparing to argue a CWA case in the Court’s upcoming fall term for San Francisco. For a full analysis of the recent major Supreme Court decisions, and links to the decisions, read the firm’s commentary in Implications of Recent Supreme Court Decisions on Administrative, Environmental, and Natural Resources Law.