This is just wrong in so many ways that it raises a question for me as to whether Solicitor General Prolegar has ever been a DOJ prosecutor. Different obstruction statutes have different statutory maximums — some as low as 3 years. That means that a judge cannot impose a sentence of more than 36 months for a violation of that particular statute with that statutory maximum.

As noted in more detail below, the government has sought sentences under the Sentencing Guidelines far in excess of 36 months for Sec. 1512(c)(2) convictions. The reason they have been able to do that is because the maximum sentence allowed for a Sec. 1512(c)(2) violation is 20 years — 240 months. So while the Guidelines might be the same, using Sec. 1512(c)(2) gives DOJ massive amounts of “running room” to ask for whatever length of sentence they crave for a particular January 6 defendant.