The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a challenge to the criminal prosecution of a Pennsylvania man, Joseph Fischer, for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lurking in the background is the fact that the outcome of this case could affect the pending federal indictment against former President Donald Trump in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Although the case that the court heard Tuesday is about what happened on Jan. 6, the court isn’t going to decide whether Jan. 6 was a peaceful protest or an insurrection. Instead, the court agreed to hear Fischer’s case to decide a different question; namely, whether Fischer can be prosecuted under a federal law that forbids corruptly obstructing an official proceeding.
Rules about how to interpret a statute—think textualism—will therefore play a far greater role in the court’s decision than…
