Federal judges rejecting defendants' and DOJ's efforts to expand reach of Prez Trump's Jan 6 pardons

As highlighted in a number of prior posts (see lonks below), in recent weeks federal criminal defendants and sometimes even the US Justice Department has been asserting that Prez Trump's Jan 6 pardons cover seemingly unrelated crimes.  This week, as detailed in press reports, judges in a few cases have been ruling and rejecting these claims:

From NBC News, "No, Trump’s blanket Jan. 6 pardon doesn’t cover a 2022 plot to kill FBI agents."  From the piece with links from the original:

Ever since Donald Trump granted blanket clemency to more than a thousand Jan. 6 defendants, an open legal question has been how far that executive grace extends beyond offenses committed that day in 2021.  For example, does it cover a defendant’s conviction for subsequently plotting to kill law enforcement who investigated him?  No, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday.

It might seem like an obvious answer, but U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan had to formally reach it nonetheless. In doing so, the George W. Bush appointee laid down a judicial marker in the litigation fallout from Trump’s blanket pardon, as defendants argue that the clemency reaches beyond the day of Jan. 6 — even as the Trump Justice Department sides with some defendants, opposes others and sometimes changes its mind about how far it goes.

From Politico, "Judge rejects DOJ’s effort to expand reach of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon."  From the piece, with links from the original:

A federal judge has denied the Justice Department’s attempt to apply President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for members of the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol to one defendant’s conviction for possessing illegal guns hundreds of miles away, at his Kentucky home. In a ruling Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, became the first judge to reject outright the Justice Department’s recently adopted position about the scope of Trump’s clemency.

Reversing its initial stance in the weeks after Trump’s inauguration, the department is now arguing that Trump’s pardon extends to crimes with no connection to the attack on the Capitol other than the fact that law enforcement agents uncovered evidence of them during the Jan. 6 investigation.  Friedrich said DOJ’s position “contradicts” the “clear and unambiguous” language of Trump’s Day 1 executive order granting pardons to about 1,500 people convicted of participating in the riot.

Prior related posts:

• Justice Department now asserting in some cases that Prez Trump's Jan 6 pardons covers gun and drug crimes 
• More press coverage of more Justice Department filings arguing Jan 6 pardons cover other crimes 
• Interesting report on interesting hearing over scope of Jan 6 pardons