As highlighted by sources including legal journalist Kyle Cheney, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has rejected a challenge brought by a charged and convicted participant in the Capitol riot of early 2021 to some of the criminal allegations that he faced.
This defendant challenged the Constitutional basis for a decades-old prohibition on a range of disruptions inside the Capitol building, a misdemeanor charge that prosecutors have used in a large number of criminal cases stemming from the 2021 violence. In rejecting this defendant’s contentions, that federal court also rebuffed the notion that’s been popularized in some of these circles of the Capitol building constituting, in general terms, a “public forum.” The idea is used against the government broadly restricting activities in the Capitol at all.
“Entry to the Capitol buildings is, moreover, strictly regulated: A visitor wishing to tour the historic Capitol Building that encompasses the Capitol Rotunda, for example, must book a tour, enter through the Capitol visitor center between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., proceed through security, and subject all carried items to inspection,” the federal court recounted, adding: “Against that backdrop, Nassif has not established that the Capitol buildings are, by policy or practice, generally open for use by members of the public to voice whatever concerns they may have—much less to use for protests, pickets, or demonstrations.”
Trump’s own criminal case broadly connected to January 6 that accuses him of a range of conspiracies involving attempted election interference is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump is hoping to convince the court of the already widely maligned notion that he holds legal protections merely by virtue of once serving as president that should shut down the case. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a leading candidate for Senate in his home state, was recently critical of the Supreme Court’s scheduling, accusing the court of willful delay evidenced by them moving quicker in other disputes.
