The Justice Department has routinely asked judges to apply the enhancement to defendants who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, arguing that the session of Congress that day — meant to count electoral votes and certify the results of the 2020 election — should be considered the equivalent of a judicial proceeding.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument in an appeal brought by Larry Brock, a Jan. 6 defendant who was sentenced last year to a two-year prison term for obstructing Congress’ proceedings. U.S. District Judge John Bates — a George W. Bush appointee — calculated Brock’s sentence by including the enhancement for interfering with “administration of justice.” ...

“Brock’s interference with one stage of the electoral college vote-counting process — while no doubt endangering our democratic processes and temporarily derailing Congress’s constitutional work — did not interfere with the ‘administration of justice,’” wrote Judge Patricia Millett in a unanimous ruling joined by Judges Cornelia Pillard and Judith Rogers.