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Federal Judge: Capitol Hill Rioters' Charges Might Be Unconstitutional
Townhall ^ | 09/15/2021 | Matt Vespa

Posted on 09/15/2021 7:49:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

There’s going to be a rally in Washington DC this weekend. It’s why the fencing is going back up around the US Capitol Building. There have been over 400 arrests stemming from the January 6 riot that has incorrectly been dubbed an armed insurrection. It was not worse than 9/11. It was not worse than Pearl Harbor and it sure wasn’t as bad as the Civil War. That’s the narrative in newsrooms. Everyone else has moved the hell on with their lives. NO ONE cares. MSNBC and CNN don’t count. It was not our nation’s best day. It was dark for sure—but it was a riot. Nothing more. And at the end of the day, what occurred were many instances of trespassing on federal property. Only one person died inside the building. Her name was Ashli Babbitt, and she was killed by Capitol Police. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who the liberal media erroneously said was killed by the rioters, died of natural causes. And what the hell happened to the guy who planted pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic Parties? 

In the meantime, some of the jail sentences prosecutors are gunning for are outrageous. Now, a federal judge has concerns about the constitutionality of the charges (via The Hill):

A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether the obstruction of an official proceeding charge that has been levied against at least 235 defendants in Capitol riot cases is unconstitutionally vague. 

During a lengthy hearing Wednesday for the conspiracy case involving 18 members of the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta for the District of Columbia asked about the determinations prosecutors used to file a felony charge of “obstructing an official proceeding” of Congress. 

“Essentially, what you said is, ‘Trust us,’?” Mehta said, according to The Washington Post.

“And that is a real problem when it comes to criminal statutes, to suggest, ‘We know it when we see it, and we’ll pick and choose when it is an appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.’?”

Defense attorneys, including David W. Fischer, who is representing co-defendant Thomas Edward Caldwell, have argued that the felony charge was not being properly applied to the case, claiming that the congressional certification of Electoral College votes did not meet the definition of an “official proceeding.” 

The felony charge, which has been brought against Capitol riot defendants in addition to other misdemeanor offenses, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

[…]

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Moss also expressed questions on the charge in a separate hearing last month, noting that the government must present a clear differentiation between obstructing an official proceeding and lesser charges that carry maximum punishments of six months in prison. 

Judge Mehta is an Obama appointee. The plan for Democrats is to use this to gin up the base ahead of a midterm election year since Joe Biden isn’t giving his party many accomplishments to tout on the stump. It was never about the truth. It was about the narrative. Trump, his supporters, the GOP, rural Americans—we’re all Nazis. That’s the line. Yet, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. That moment came when Afghanistan collapsed last month, and Joe Biden decided to leave Americans behind because he didn’t want to make the Taliban mad by extending the August 31 departure deadline. The Taliban rejected any extension, and we caved. We caved to terrorists.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: amitmehta; amitpmehta; capitol; capitolhill; dcdistrict; dissent; jan6th; january6; obamajudge; politicalprisoners; protests; voicevote
RE: There’s going to be a rally in Washington DC this weekend

IT's A TRAP !! YOU CAN BE SURE ANTIFA AND ALL THE OTHER GOONS WILL BE THERE TO CREATE TROUBLE AND RIOTS.

1 posted on 09/15/2021 7:49:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, Judge Amit Mehta obviously didn’t get the memo that 1/6 was the white suprema-cyst equivalent of 9/11/2001. As to $blm and pantyfa, no doubt they’ll be present and ready to start something. Which will be blamed on the boogaloo boyz or oath keepers............. So, is being vaxxed a requirement for $blm and pantyfa troops?


2 posted on 09/15/2021 7:53:45 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: SeekAndFind
IT's A TRAP !!

Actually it's a large FBI exercise, as they have personnel on both sides of the melee-to-be.

3 posted on 09/15/2021 7:56:13 AM PDT by RideForever (One of the Control Group of the CoVID genetic experiment)
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To: SeekAndFind

Eventually, the Democrat crooks turn on each other.

Unfortunately, a lot of us have die or be crippled or be ruined until it happens.


4 posted on 09/15/2021 7:57:55 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: SeekAndFind

Joe will just write an executive order that they all be drawn and quartered, but only after they are fully vaccinated.


5 posted on 09/15/2021 7:59:15 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods ( comment might be sarcasm, or not. It depends. Often I'm not sure either.)
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To: SaxxonWoods

Stealing an election is unconstitutional too, but that didn’t stop the left from doing it.


6 posted on 09/15/2021 8:30:15 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Bob434

The Kenyanesian Usurpation was unconstitutional and set up everything that is happening now.


7 posted on 09/15/2021 8:35:01 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents)(Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: rktman

Sounds like somebody woke up and smelled the hemp.


8 posted on 09/15/2021 8:39:22 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: SeekAndFind

The argument that the functions of the Electoral College are not “official proceedings of Congress” is intriguing. Members of the government and Congress cannot be Electors. The tallying of the Electors’ votes is done before a joint session of House and Senate. They only have a role to play if there is a tie, which obviously was not the case in Jan 2021. “Official function” in common sense language does not necessarily mean the same in law. In federal law, it seems to involve matters with testimony before a judge.

If the judge WANTS a technicality to dump the cases, this might do it. It he doesn’t, he can bend it the other way.


9 posted on 09/15/2021 8:52:58 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: SeekAndFind

Don’t bother with congress or the capitol.

Go after the media. Demonstrate at media headquarters, offices, stations, anchor’s homes, ...


10 posted on 09/15/2021 8:58:00 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim (I'll be good, I will, I will!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, duh!


11 posted on 09/15/2021 9:09:28 AM PDT by sauropod (Bidet was no prize before he put the “d” in “dementia.” - Schlichter)
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To: FroggyTheGremlim

“Go after the media. Demonstrate at media headquarters, offices, stations, anchor’s homes, ...”

ABSOLUTELY!!! Primary target #1 ! This cannot be stressed enough!


12 posted on 09/15/2021 9:14:31 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Chewbarkah

It’s also questionable whether the charged individuals “obstructed” anything. There is no evidence that particular defendants thought about entering the building before the EC tallying was moved pre-emptively to another location. The EC vote took place. Perhaps Congress could be charged with obstructing itself.


13 posted on 09/15/2021 9:24:34 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: SeekAndFind

The prosecutions have been worthy of the gestapo. nancy pelosi has told the prosecutors to treat them as already found guilty.


14 posted on 09/15/2021 9:35:08 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Dethrone the ruling class. )
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To: SeekAndFind
Maybe I am wrong, but is it really wise to hold a rally in D.C. given the brouhaha over January 6?

True we can legitimately talk about our "rights" to hold such a rally, but is this really the hill Trump supporters should want to die on? Why give Pelosi an excuse to set up barricades and call out National Guard troops again - and change the subject from the "cut and run" debacle in Afghanistan to another bogus Trump derangement narrative?

15 posted on 09/15/2021 9:55:16 AM PDT by Sons of Union Vets (Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Prosecutors, like the 9th Circuit, know they have nothing, but they go forward anyway.

I do not know law, but there must be a statute which forbids malicious prosecution.


16 posted on 09/15/2021 10:14:15 AM PDT by lurk ( )
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To: rktman

This passes for courage among the legal profession? Forget the charges, what about the treatment?


17 posted on 09/15/2021 10:41:27 AM PDT by DPMD
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To: SeekAndFind
“And that is a real problem when it comes to criminal statutes, to suggest, ‘We know it when we see it, and we’ll pick and choose when it is an appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.’?”
Perhaps Judge Metha just isn't getting it that the Jan 6 "insurrection" is political porn to leftists?
18 posted on 09/15/2021 1:13:19 PM PDT by nicollo (I said no!)
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To: SeekAndFind; All

Yup, it is a trap. Republicans fall for this crap and then the blowback is non-stop for months, just like the infamous “January 6th riots.”


19 posted on 09/16/2021 3:36:08 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore.)
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