A federal judge has dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers militia group, and several other members, following the Justice Department’s decision to withdraw from the prosecution. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who had previously sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison and characterized him as “an ongoing threat and peril to this country,” expressed reluctance about the dismissal in an order dated Aug. 4. Juries had convicted Rhodes and five other Oath Keepers of attempting to overthrow the government through force in connection with violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Judge Mehta criticized the dismissal in his order, stating that it “diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy—the peaceful transfer of presidential power—to buckle.” Rhodes’ attorney, James Lee Bright, celebrated the development in a social media post, describing seditious conspiracy as a “thought crime” that should never have been charged.
The case’s dismissal represents a significant conclusion to federal accountability efforts related to the Capitol riot. President Trump pardoned nearly all defendants charged in connection with the event upon taking office. The president has subsequently championed rioters and proposed a “anti-weaponization fund” worth $1.776 billion to provide taxpayer compensation, though the plan faced bipartisan congressional resistance.
The dismissal occurred as three former federal prosecutors testified before the Senate, urging lawmakers to decline Trump’s judicial nominees who question the Jan. 6 violence or refuse to acknowledge the 2020 election results. Former prosecutors characterized these nominees as potentially unfit to adjudicate future election disputes. The White House defended its nominees as qualified and properly vetted, while Democratic senators including Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal argued that nominees refusing to acknowledge basic facts about the election pose threats to judicial independence. The Republican-led Senate has confirmed nearly all of the president’s judicial nominees for lifetime federal positions.
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