Appeals Court Rejects Harsh Jan. 6 Sentences

What happened: A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. ruled that judges wrongly sentenced Donald Trump supporters who protested at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

• The argument: Judges handed out dozens of sentencing enhancements to Jan. 6 protesters for supposedly disrupting “the administration of justice,” referring to Congress’s certification of the 2020 election.

Not convinced: The appeals panel decided unanimously that the Jan. 6 proceedings had nothing to do with “the administration of justice.” The ruling, issued by three Democrat appointees, paves the way for numerous defendants to challenge their sentences.

Why it matters: The court’s opinion underscores the justice system’s response to the Capitol “insurrection” as unusual. Prosecutors and judges punish conservatives with unique standards that defense lawyers have collectively labeled “Jan. 6 jurisprudence.”

• Reminder: Nonviolent offenses were portrayed as acts of “domestic terrorism” in Jan. 6 cases. Courts used terrorism sentencing enhancements on protesters who never entered the Capitol. One of these cases earned longer jail time than a case of armed sexual abuse in D.C.

• What’s next: The Justice Department repurposed a federal law to charge Trump and hundreds of protesters with “obstruction of an official proceeding” based on unprecedented legal reasoning. By June, the Supreme Court is expected to decide a case which challenges this tactic.