The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6 vacated a federal appeals court decision upholding Steve Bannon’s criminal contempt of Congress conviction and sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a move that—at the Justice Department’s request—could allow the Trump administration to seek dismissal of the prosecution. Bannon previously served a four-month prison sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, April 6, issued an order vacating a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that had upheld Steve Bannon’s conviction for criminal contempt of Congress, and remanded the case to the appeals court.
The action, sought by the Justice Department, is expected to clear the way for the government to ask that the case be dismissed. Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and a former White House chief strategist, was convicted after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Bannon was found guilty by a jury in July 2022 on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress—one for refusing to appear for testimony and another for refusing to produce documents—and he was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine, according to the Justice Department. After his appeals were exhausted, he served his sentence in 2024.
Bannon argued that his refusal to cooperate was not “willful,” contending he relied on counsel and said Trump had asserted executive privilege. Courts rejected that defense in the contempt case.
The Supreme Court’s order does not itself erase Bannon’s conviction. Instead, by vacating the D.C. Circuit’s prior decision and returning the case to that court, it creates an avenue for the Justice Department to move to end the prosecution.
