Federal Judge Grants DOJ Request to Dismiss Cases Against Oath Keepers Who Participated in the Jan. 6 Insurrection

A federal judge Tuesday granted the Justice Department’s request to dismiss cases against Oath Keepers members who participated in the January 6 insurrection. The ruling by Judge Amit Mehta vacates the seditious conspiracy convictions of founder Stewart Rhodes and other members who were found guilty of plotting to block the transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss. In his ruling, Mehta strongly disagreed with the DOJ’s decision to drop the cases, but ultimately concluded that the government’s prosecutors had the authority to do so, writing, “Today’s epilogue 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. The court cannot write a different ending.” www.democracynow.org