Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said Monday many people are failing to emphasize the importance of the Supreme Court’s review of the Biden DOJ’s application of felony “obstruction of an official proceeding” statutes, stressing that the case could “blow up” Jack Smith’s January 6 indictment against former President Donald Trump.

In January, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Fischer v. United States, a case centered on the obstruction count. Federal prosecutors have charged hundreds of peaceful January 6 protesters with violating 18 USC Section 1512(c)(2), obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, a felony that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. Hundreds of defendants have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms under the statute when they would have otherwise faced low-level misdemeanors.

“The D.C. Circuit’s expansion of Section 1512(c)(2) beyond evidence impairment to protests at the seat of government thus conflicts with the interpretations of other courts of appeal limiting the scope of the same statute,” attorneys for January 6 defendant Joseph Fischer wrote in a legal brief submitted to the Supreme Court.
Two of the four counts in Jack Smith’s January 6 indictment hinge on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the ruling, something McCarthy stressed during an appearance on Fox News Monday. ““The case to keep your eye on is the obstruction case,” McCarthy told Fox News host Bill Hemmer. ““We miss it because Trump is not a party to that case. They are looking at the same statute that is key to Smith’s prosecution of Trump in Washington, and if they — as I expect they may, if they — if they say the Justice Department has not been correctly applying that statute, that’s going to have a catastrophic impact for Smith on his indictment.”

The Supreme Court is also set to rule on Trump’s argument that presidential immunity shields him from prosecution in the January 6 case.