Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a lower court decision that upheld the conviction of Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to President Trump, on two counts of contempt of Congress, paving the way for the case to be dismissed.
In addition to wiping away the ruling that left Bannon’s conviction in place, the Supreme Court sent his case back to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., for further proceedings. The court addressed Bannon’s appeal in a brief order with no noted dissents.
The Justice Department has asked the district court to dismiss Bannon’s criminal case, and the Supreme Court’s order clears the way for the government to pursue that dismissal.
Bannon served a four-month prison sentence in 2024 after the Supreme Court denied his bid to remain out of prison while he pursued his appeal of his conviction.
The saga over Bannon’s conviction dates back to 2021, after Mr. Trump’s first term, when the House Jan. 6 committee issued a subpoena seeking documents and testimony related to Bannon’s communications with Mr. Trump about efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election.
Bannon declined to comply with the demand, arguing that a lawyer for the president had indicated that Mr. Trump had invoked executive privilege over the material sought by lawmakers, which prevented Bannon from turning it over.
Bannon served as Mr. Trump’s chief strategist in the first months of his first term, but was fired in 2017 and was a private citizen at the time of the 2020 election.
The House voted to find Bannon in contempt of Congress after he rebuffed the subpoena, and he was then indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. Bannon pleaded not guilty.
During his 2022 trial, Bannon reversed course about his willingness to testify before House investigators in a public hearing and claimed that Mr. Trump waived executive privilege. But he was still convicted on both counts by a jury and sentenced to four months in prison.
Bannon appealed, and in May 2024, a panel of three judges on the U.S. appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld his criminal conviction.
In filings with the Supreme Court, lawyers for the conservative podcast host called his prosecution “ill-conceived” and “unjust.”
Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who represents the government before the high court, separately said in a filing with the justices that dismissal of Bannon’s criminal case was in the “interests of justice.”
