OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS: The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could upend the prosecutions of hundreds of January 6^th rioters and even dial back the federal charges against former President Donald Trump accusing him of attempting to overturn his election defeat.

  At the least, this and other legal developments could delay the March start of Trump’s federal election interference case. The court might not rule until June.

 The issue is whether defendants in federal cases can be prosecuted under a law that makes it a crime to corruptly obstruct an official proceeding. What the rioters were obstructing that day was the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president. 

  But a federal judge ruled last year in the case of one insurrection defendant that the law requires defendants to take “some action with respect to a document, record or other object.” An appeals court reversed that saying certification of the vote qualifies as a proceeding, and now the question is headed to the Supreme Court.

PRESIDENTIAL SON: Hunter Biden yesterday defied a subpoena to testify for a House committee looking for evidence to impeach his father. 

  Later in the day the House Republicans voted to open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president despite having developed no evidence to justify it. Joe Biden said, “Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies.”

  The younger Biden held an impromptu press conference in front of the Capitol in which he said he was willing to testify, but not behind closed doors because Republicans could selectively leak his answers to damage him and his father. 

  Biden admitted to his substance addiction, squandering of money, and scandalous behavior, but he said his father has done nothing wrong and had nothing to do with his business dealings. “My father was not financially involved in my business — not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist.”

  The Republicans have been after Hunter Biden for years, partly in revenge for Donald Trump’s legal troubles, and as a way to take down the president. Hunter said, “They ridiculed my struggle with addiction; they belittled my recovery; and they have tried to dehumanize me — all to embarrass and damage my father, who has devoted his entire public life to service.”

THE OTHER WAR:  In his hours long annual press conference today, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his goals in Ukraine have not changed — the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country. He said that he is open to peace talks, but not to compromise. “If they don’t want to talk, then we are forced to take other measures, including military ones,” Putin said.

  There’s no evidence that Ukraine is run by Nazis.

  Russian forces mostly fended off a summer counter offensive by Ukraine. Now, with winter setting in, the Russians are attacking again. Putin also hopes to take advantage of wavering military support for Ukraine in the US Congress.

  Putin said Ukraine is getting “freebies,” meaning military aid, “But these freebies can run out at some point, and it looks like they’re already starting to run out.”

GAZA: Israel reported losing 10 soldiers killed yesterday, one of its single worst days in the war against Hamas. The dead included a 44-year-old colonel. Israel suffered 15 dead on October 31^st.

  Hamas issued a statement saying, “The longer you stay there, the greater the bill of your deaths and losses will be, and you will emerge from it carrying the tail of disappointment and loss, God willing.”

  Roughly 18,000 people have been killed in Gaza. 

ABORTION DRUG: The Supreme Court decided to take up a case in which the justices are asked to overturn a lower court ruling limiting nationwide access to a drug regimen used in more than half of all abortions. It’s the first time the Supremes have taken an abortion-related case since overturning Roe v. Wade last year.

  The conservative-dominated US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit said the Food and Drug Administration acted illegally when it allowed the drug Mifepristone that was approved more than 20 years ago to be taken later in pregnancy, to be mailed directly to patients, and to be prescribed by a medical professional other than a doctor. The Biden administration and manufacturer of the drug have asked the Supreme Court to reverse that ruling.

ECON 101: Hopes are growing that the Federal Reserve is bringing the overheated economy into a “soft landing” rather than crashing into recession. The Fed indicated that interest rates are likely to stay where they are and might even be cut several times next year.

  The Fed has been jacking up rates to stop inflation and that seems to have worked. Inflation has been above 2 percent for 33 months.

THE SPIN RACK: A 28-year-old man has been charged with the stabbing murder of Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll, 40, whose body was found outside her home on October 21^st. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office says it does not appear to have been a hate crime. Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, of Detroit, has been charged with felony murder committed “while in perpetration or attempted perpetration of a larceny and/or a home invasionin the first degree,” the county prosecutor, said at a news conference. — The Senate yesterday passed an $886 billion defense bill stripped of Republican demands for limiting abortion access, LGBTQ rights, and diversity initiatives.

BELOW THE FOLD: Prince William and Kate Middleton issued a Christmas family photo that appears to have been photoshopped. Prince Louis is missing a middle finger.