Yes, the Jan. 6 case being heard by the Supreme Court is important and relevant to your life. It could influence not only Donald Trump’s case, it could well prove a defining moment for all Jan. 6 cases. It is a moment to decide if political dissent is allowed or if it is criminalized.
We all know there is a double standard in our judiciary now. Peaceful pro-lifers and Trump supporters are prosecuted and persecuted with far greater harshness than literal murderers, child rapists, and Antifa rioters who burned down cities. The main question for this J6 hearing now is what decision the Supreme Court will make. Even aside from the verdict, what arguments will be made? How will the case be framed? Can all Trump supporters rely on the Supreme Court to be objective and reject political persecution? Or will the rights and freedom of every individual who publicly challenges the party currently in power be at risk?
The events of Jan. 6, 2021, continue to be controversial. Enough evidence has now emerged that we know the overwhelming majority of protesters that day (including some facing years in jail) were peaceful, and lawyers have stated that some individuals accused of violence were arguably defending themselves from police brutality. But whether the J6ers have been accused of violence or merely being present, whether they snapped selfies or shouted at police, whether they never entered the Capitol or moved furniture around the halls of Congress, they are all still American citizens with certain rights. And those rights have, in a number of cases, been shockingly violated.
Over 1,300 people have been arrested in connection with Jan. 6, and arrests continue even into 2024, three years later. There have been multiple J6 prisoners' reports over the last few years of inhumane conditions, being denied not only rights but necessities like medical care, and being treated worse than terrorists. Congressional investigation confirmed the shocking treatment.
As an opinion piece in The Epoch Times previously noted, some arrests of Jan. 6 prisoners evoked “Gestapo tactics.” Trump supporters are indeed too often treated as “guilty until proven innocent and [as] undeserving of the basic civil rights that all other Americans are supposed to be afforded under the Constitution.” FBI agent Steve Friend was so disturbed by the FBI campaign against Jan. 6 protesters that he ended up becoming a whistleblower. Dinesh D’Souza particularly highlighted the shameful treatment of J6ers in his movie “Police State.”
As I summed up in another piece:
Peaceful protestor Raymond Chambers entered the Capitol for only three minutes on Jan. 6, 2021, but he now faces jail time; and several other J6ers with “viable defenses” were convicted around the same time. Jan. 6 prisoner Jake Lang has been in jail for three years, often in reportedly abusive prison conditions, without trial, [and his prison conditions have only worsened]. He and other J6ers, including Philip Anderson, recently said on Twitter/X that they cannot expect objective justice as long as Joe Biden is in office. Regardless of whether a January 6 prisoner actually did commit violent crimes or is completely innocent, he has certain rights under the Constitution, including the right to a speedy trial. That right is being violated.
Recommended: Shellenberger: Brazil’s Spiral into CCP-Like Tyranny Should Scare Americans
Yes, the arguments being heard at the Supreme Court for ex-police officer Joseph Fischer are very important, and they are applicable to your life. We have seen Brazil’s rapid spiral into authoritarianism, but, as journalist Michael Shellenberger warned, the United States — under Joe Biden — is heading down the same slippery slope. If there is no objective justice, free from political bias, for the Jan. 6 protesters, then how is any citizen safe? If America is no longer a country of laws but a country of politicians, a country at the mercy of whoever is currently in power, how can we remain free?
