The Supreme Court on Monday erased an appeals court ruling against Trump confidant Steve Bannon, clearing the way for his criminal conviction for contempt of Congress to be tossed out.
The justices didn’t explain their thinking, but both Bannon and the Trump Justice Department had asked the high court to take this step.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that they wanted to dismiss the indictment against Bannon — even though he’s already served his time. The dismissal of the case would be a symbolic vindication for Bannon.
“The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for further consideration in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment,” the Supreme Court said in a brief order announcing its ruling.
Bannon was a target of the Democratic Congress’s probe into the events of Jan. 6, 2021. He refused to honor a subpoena demanding his testimony, and was convicted of contempt and served four months in jail.
His lawyers had argued that he was following legal advice and exerting Executive Branch prerogatives by not testifying.
They said that undermined the criminal conviction.
The legal question is whether the contempt statute only required that Bannon’s conduct was willful, or whether prosecutors had to show that he knew he was flouting the law. Bannon’s lawyers said since he was following legal advice, he thought he was acting within the law.
The D.C. circuit disagreed, pointing to its own precedent that only required willful behavior. Several GOP-appointed judges on that court dissented, saying their precedent was wrong.
Mr. Sauer told the Supreme Court that they want to end the case entirely.
“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” he said in his brief.
Bannon had previously asked the high court to intervene back in 2024, just before he was scheduled to start serving his time. The justices at that point declined to step in.
Bannon also pleaded guilty last year to felony fraud charges in a state court in New York stemming from his involvement in a private border wall building scheme during President Trump’s first term, known as We Build the Wall.
Bannon, co-founder of Breitbart News, served as an adviser to Mr. Trump in the 2016 campaign and in the White House in 2017. He now hosts the “War Room” podcast.
Also Monday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Justice Department to vacate another conviction against Alexander Sittenfeld, who was convicted of bribery stemming from campaign donations.
He had argued that the evidence wasn’t clear enough to establish that legal campaign contributions could be considered illegal bribes.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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