Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted more than 300 Americans under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a law that criminalizes the fraudulent destruction of or tampering with corporate documents, even though the events of January 6, 2021, had nothing to do with documents.

Meanwhile, Biden’s memoir ghostwriter intentionally and knowingly deleted evidence during an active investigation of Biden. Despite the fact that this ghostwriter obstructed justice, the DOJ has NOT prosecuted him.

The bedrock principle of the American legal system is that ALL men and women are treated equally under the law. But the Biden administration, once again, is not only acting as if they are above the law, but they are also willing to abuse the law to punish political enemies. Read on to learn more about Liberty Counsel’s latest filing with the U.S. Supreme Court. — Mat

Contrast that with the way the Biden administration has treated more than 300 people who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Biden’s DOJ prosecuted these people using the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, despite the fact there were no defendants destroying or altering any documents.

In December 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition of three “Jan 6ers” — Joseph Wayne Fischer, Edward Lang, and Garret Miller — who were charged under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for “corruptly” obstructing an official proceeding.

The men had traveled to Washington, D.C., to observe the certification of the 2020 election. The defendants say they briefly entered the U.S. Capitol building after Congress had recessed. However, these men did not destroy, alter, hide, or otherwise attempt to obscure any documents, as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act prescribes.

Biden’s DOJ is trying to give these men 20-year prison sentences for a crime they did not commit.

The DOJ has charged nearly 330 individuals, including President Donald Trump, under this misapplication of the law.

In March 2022, a U.S. District Judge dismissed the Section 1512(c) charge against Fischer, reasoning the law was only intended to narrowly apply to evidence tampering that leads to an obstruction of an official proceeding.

However, in April 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 to reinstate the charge against Fischer, Lang, and Miller, whose cases are now combined. The Appeals Court stated that “under the most natural reading” of the second part of the statute, the law “applies to all forms of corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding.”

In his dissenting opinion, Judge Gregory Katsas stated the DOJ’s “all-encompassing” interpretation of the law would make it both “improbably broad and unconstitutional in many of its applications.”

In the amicus brief we just filed, Liberty Counsel argues that using a “document-shredding prohibition” such as Section 1512(c) in this manner “criminalizes large swaths of constitutionally protected expression” and runs “roughshod over the First Amendment.”

This unprecedented application of Section 1512(c) was due to prosecutors running amok because they detested the speech, assembly, and expression of the people who aimed to influence their elected representatives on January 6.

The Biden administration is attempting to misuse this document-shredding prohibition to charge people with crimes they did not commit that carry up to 20 years’ imprisonment. But no charges will be brought against the Biden employee, Mark Zwonitzer, despite his open admission to violating the law in the middle of an active investigation.

The DOJ’s selective prosecution of January 6 defendants under Section 1512(c) runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

The First Amendment does not permit the government to make political expression criminal.

Liberty Counsel has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that using a “document-shredding prohibition” misused in this manner “criminalizes large swaths of constitutionally protected expression” and runs “roughshod over the First Amendment.”

Liberty Counsel is working on many Supreme Court cases. We are also submitting briefs on the Biden administration’s social media censorship, Biden’s attempt to force emergency room doctors to perform abortions, the abortion pill case, pro-life sidewalk counseling, and much more.

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Sources:

Hur, Robert. “Report of the Special Counsel on the Investigation into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents.” U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel’s Office, February 5, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/storage/report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024.pdf.

Nerozzi, Timothy H.J. “Biden Ghostwriter Escapes Special Counsel Charges Despite Deleting Evidence.” Fox News, February 9, 2024. Foxnews.com/politics/biden-ghostwriter-escapes-special-counsel-charges-despite-deleting-evidence.

‌“SCOTUS To Decide First Amendment Issue in January 6 Prosecutions.” Liberty Counsel, February 5, 2024. LC.org/newsroom/details/0202524-scotus-to-decide-first-amendment-issue-in-january-6-prosecutions.