A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday granted the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the January 6 prosecutions against members of the Oath Keepers militia, vacating the seditious conspiracy convictions handed down after the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
The ruling from US District Judge Amit Mehta throws out the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the group, who had been found guilty of plotting to obstruct the transfer of power following Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.
Rhodes and his co-defendants were among the most prominent figures prosecuted in connection with the Capitol attack, when a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the building as Congress moved to certify Joe Biden’s victory. The seditious conspiracy charge marked one of the most serious counts brought against participants in the events of that day.
The dismissal follows a broader shift in the Justice Department’s posture toward January 6 cases since Trump returned to office. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued sweeping clemency to individuals charged in the Capitol attack, and prosecutors have since moved to unwind remaining cases.
The decision to formally vacate the convictions removes the legal weight of the jury verdicts against Rhodes and his associates, closing one of the most closely watched chapters of the sprawling federal investigation into the Capitol breach.
The move is the latest in a series of decisions in which prosecutors have stepped back from earlier legal actions initiated during previous administrations.
Rhodes, a former US Army paratrooper and Yale-trained lawyer, had originally received one of the longest sentences among those convicted over the Capitol attack. The Oath Keepers, founded in 2009, drew heavily from former military and law enforcement ranks.
The dismissal is expected to draw sharp reactions from across the political spectrum, with supporters framing it as the correction of an overreach and critics warning it undermines accountability for the events surrounding the certification of the 2020 vote.
Court filings did not indicate any remaining charges pending against the dismissed defendants, effectively bringing their federal cases to a close.