Obstructing an official proceeding

Corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding is a felony under U.S. federal law. It was enacted as part of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 in reaction to the Enron scandal, and closed a legal loophole on who could be charged with evidence tampering by defining the new crime very broadly.

This part of the Act later became known as a charge against defendants associated with the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack for attempting to obstruct that year's Electoral College vote count. Former President Donald Trump has also been indicted on these grounds more broadly regarding his alleged participation in attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election. There have been legal disputes over the applicability of these charges, although they have been upheld by all but one district court judge, who was overruled in a 2-1 decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case, Fischer v. United States (2024), is currently pending before the Supreme Court.