Supreme Court Vacates D.C. Circuit Ruling Upholding Steve Bannon's Contempt Conviction, Remands Case Amid Justice Department Motion to Dismiss

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6, 2026, issued a brief, unsigned order vacating a judgment by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that had upheld Steve Bannon's 2022 conviction for contempt of Congress, according to the court's docket in Bannon v. United States, No. 24-635. The high court remanded the case to the D.C. Circuit for further consideration in light of a February 2026 motion by the Justice Department to dismiss the indictment against Bannon, the order stated.

Bannon, a former White House chief strategist to President Donald Trump from August 2017 to August 2017, was convicted by a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 22, 2022, on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, court records show. The charges stemmed from Bannon's refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. The subpoena, issued in October 2021, demanded documents and a deposition from Bannon regarding his communications with Trump and others about the events of January 6, according to the committee's public records.

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols presided over the trial and, on October 21, 2022, sentenced Bannon to four months in prison, a $6,500 fine, and 24 months of probation, per the sentencing order. Nichols granted Bannon's request to delay reporting to prison pending appeal, allowing him to remain free until July 2024, when he began serving his term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, as confirmed by Bureau of Prisons records. Bannon was released on October 29, 2024, after completing his sentence.

Bannon's defense at trial argued that he relied on advice from his attorney and that former President Trump's invocation of executive privilege protected the requested materials, according to trial transcripts cited in Bannon's certiorari petition to the Supreme Court filed in October 2025. Nichols ruled those arguments inadmissible, finding they did not constitute a valid defense to contempt, as documented in his pretrial orders. The Justice Department, under the Biden administration, prosecuted the case, securing the conviction.

The D.C. Circuit, in a unanimous panel decision on May 10, 2024, affirmed the conviction, rejecting Bannon's claims and holding that willful noncompliance did not require proof of bad faith beyond refusal, per the appellate opinion in United States v. Bannon, No. 22-3059. The full D.C. Circuit denied Bannon's petition for rehearing en banc on July 9, 2024. Bannon then petitioned the Supreme Court for review, which initially denied his emergency request to stay his prison sentence on June 28, 2024, according to SCOTUS docket entries.

In a shift, the Justice Department under the second Trump administration filed a motion on February 9, 2026, in the district court to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, arguing it was "in the interests of justice," as stated in the motion signed by Solicitor General D. John Sauer and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro. The filing cited prosecutorial discretion, questioned the validity of the House committee's subpoena as "improper," and referenced executive privilege issues unresolved in prior litigation, per the document available on the district court docket. Sauer wrote in a response to the Supreme Court that "the government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice."

The Supreme Court's April 6 order — a procedural maneuver known as grant, vacate, and remand (GVR), commonly used when government positions change — did not address the merits of Bannon's conviction or the dismissal motion, Supreme Court procedures confirm. Legal experts, including those cited in SCOTUSblog analysis on April 6, 2026, noted that such orders direct lower courts to reconsider in light of new developments without endorsing them.

Bannon's attorney, Michael Buschbacher, stated in a Supreme Court filing that the prosecution was "unjust," though this characterization appears unverified in official DOJ statements, which limited comments to prosecutorial discretion. Separately, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a prior statement that the conviction resulted from an "improper" subpoena and vowed to "undo the prior administration’s weaponization of the justice system," according to public remarks reported in court filings.

This case parallels that of Peter Navarro, another Trump adviser convicted of contempt for defying the same committee's subpoena. Navarro served a four-month sentence ending in July 2024, and the Justice Department filed a similar dismissal motion for his case in early 2026, per D.C. district court records. President Trump issued a blanket pardon on January 20, 2025, for over 1,500 individuals charged or convicted in connection with January 6 events, except for 14 whose sentences were commuted to time served, as detailed in the White House proclamation.

Trump also pardoned Bannon in the final days of his first term on January 19, 2021, for unrelated federal fraud charges related to the "We Build the Wall" fundraiser, which were later pursued in New York state court resulting in a deferred prosecution agreement in 2025, state court records show. In a comparable development, the Justice Department in 2020 moved to dismiss charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI; the case was mooted after a Trump pardon.

The House Select Committee subpoenaed Bannon on October 14, 2021; he responded on October 21, 2021, asserting executive privilege at Trump's direction, per committee correspondence. The committee rejected the assertion on November 4, 2021, and certified contempt to the House on October 21, 2022 — the same day as sentencing — which voted 229-202 to hold him in contempt along party lines.

District Judge Nichols has the pending dismissal motion before him. Legal observers, such as those in Reuters reporting on April 6, 2026, anticipate the D.C. Circuit will remand to Nichols, who would have limited discretion to deny a joint government-defense request, though judges retain authority to scrutinize. No timeline for lower court action has been set.

Bannon allies, including statements from his War Room podcast on April 6, 2026, hailed the order as a victory against "political persecution," while critics, unnamed in court documents, have characterized it as favoritism. The order disputes no specific facts but notes the DOJ's changed stance as the pivotal factor. All procedural steps remain subject to further litigation.