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STORY: The U.S. Supreme Court raised the legal bar on Friday for prosecutors pursuing obstruction charges against January 6th rioters.

In a 6-3 decision, the court threw out a lower court's ruling that had allowed a charge of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding against a former police officer...

...the congressional certification of President Joe Biden's victory over Trump that the rioters sought to prevent.

The justices directed the lower court to reconsider the matter.

They took a narrow view of the statute - ruling that obstruction charges must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents.

The ruling is a potential boost for Trump who was hit with the obstruction charge as part of a four-count criminal indictment in a case brought last year by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

One former federal prosecutor told Reuters the higher bar wouldn't stop Smith from pursuing obstruction charges against Trump.

The campaign of Democratic President Joe Biden said in a statement that the court’s ruling “does not change the fundamental truth that Donald Trump will always put himself over our democracy."

While U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday said he was disappointed by the decision but indicated it would not affect the cases of the vast majority of the more than 1,400 defendants charged for their actions on January 6th.