U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group, effectively closing the book on prosecutions stemming from the January 6 events. This judicial action, combined with previous executive pardons, solidifies a pattern where the state apparatus ultimately shields those who challenge the formal mechanisms of bourgeois power. Judge Mehta, nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, criticized the Justice Department, stating the government “asks to absolve these Defendants of crimes against the United States itself.” He also wrote, “This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of Jan. 6. That book is now closed.”
The State's Absolution
The judge's decision follows a series of actions that have systematically dismantled accountability for the January 6 events. Last year, Republican President Donald Trump issued sweeping pardons and commutations. These executive orders freed individuals convicted of violent assaults on police and other crimes related to the Capitol attack. The Department of Justice, under the Democratic Biden administration, also acted in April of this year to vacate the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others in the seditious conspiracy case. This was a reversal from the administration's earlier stance, which had hailed the guilty verdicts in one of the most serious cases stemming from the Capitol attack.
Stewart Rhodes, who didn't enter the Capitol on January 6, was released from prison one year ago in January 2025. His 18-year sentence, received three years ago in 2023, had been commuted by Trump. Rhodes has consistently denied wrongdoing, describing himself as a “political prisoner.” James Lee Bright, an attorney for Rhodes, expressed disappointment in the "tenor" of Judge Mehta’s opinion, stating it wasn't necessary to inject his personal opinions in such a fashion.
Managing Contradictions
Trump has consistently framed the January 6 defendants as victims of an unfair justice system. He stated his pardons were intended to end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people” and to begin “a process of national reconciliation.” This rhetoric of "reconciliation" serves to paper over the deep class and political divisions that the state struggles to manage. More than 1,200 people across the United States were convicted of Jan. 6 crimes. This figure includes roughly 200 individuals who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.
While most Jan. 6 defendants received “full, complete and unconditional” pardons, Rhodes and others in the seditious conspiracy cases only had their sentences commuted. Trump further ordered the attorney general to seek the dismissal of approximately 450 cases that were pending before judges. These cases stemmed from what was described as the largest investigation in Justice Department history.
Justice for Whom?
Judge Mehta’s written opinion acknowledged the gravity of the day. He stated, “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.” Yet, the court cannot write a different ending, as he put it. Juries in the nation’s capital had previously convicted Oath Keepers leaders and members of the Proud Boys of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden. The ultimate outcome, however, demonstrates the state’s capacity to absorb and ultimately absolve challenges to its formal structure, particularly when those challenges do not fundamentally threaten the underlying class relations.