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The Supreme Court took action on Monday to redirect the contempt of Congress case involving Steve Bannon, a close associate of former President Trump, to a lower court, where it is anticipated that the case will be dismissed.
Rather than hearing arguments on Bannon’s appeal against his 2022 conviction for dodging a subpoena from the House committee probing the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the Supreme Court chose to annul the lower court’s decision and send the case back to the trial judge.
Earlier this year, in February, the Justice Department requested the dismissal of the two-count indictment brought against Bannon almost five years ago. This move suggests that the case will likely be dropped once it returns to the lower court, effectively nullifying the conviction.
“The government has concluded that dismissing this criminal case serves the interests of justice,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer informed the justices last month.
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., had previously found Bannon guilty of both charges after he failed to comply with a deposition and refused to hand over documents as subpoenaed by the January 6 committee.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, the trial judge, allowed him to delay it for about two years as he appealed. The time was served in 2024.
Bannon had pointed to his attorney’s advice to delay compliance with the Jan. 6 committee until executive privilege disputes were resolved during his appeal.
“The government acknowledges that Petitioner’s criminal prosecution was unjust,” Bannon’s attorney, Michael Buschbacher, told the high court.
Bannon was the second Trump adviser to serve prison time for evading the committee’s request.
Peter Navarro, a White House trade advisor, also served a four-month sentence after being convicted on the same two counts. Navarro’s appeal is ongoing, even as the Justice Department has dropped its defense of it.