In a filing submitted Tuesday, federal prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to vacate seditious conspiracy convictions against key figures in the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. The request goes beyond sentence reductions or commutations. If granted, it would erase the convictions entirely and allow the government to dismiss the cases with prejudice, meaning they could not be brought again.
The legal mechanism itself is not unprecedented. Prosecutors pointed to prior instances where the government has asked higher courts to vacate convictions when it determines that continuing prosecution no longer serves the interests of justice.
What makes this instance stand out is the scale and context—these were among the most high-profile cases tied to the January 6 attack, and the convictions were previously presented by federal officials as central to establishing accountability.
Rhodes, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison, was one of several defendants convicted by juries in Washington, D.C., of orchestrating efforts to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election.
Prosecutors at the time argued that members of these groups coordinated actions, maintained communication channels, and in the case of the Oath Keepers, staged weapons in nearby Virginia as part of a contingency plan. Those weapons were never deployed, but the planning itself became a key element of the government’s case.
The current request follows a broader wave of clemency issued earlier this year, when Donald Trump commuted the sentences of more than 1,500 individuals charged in connection with January 6.
Some, including former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, received full pardons. The Justice Department’s new filing effectively seeks to align the legal record with that clemency push by removing the convictions altogether.
Additional defendants named in the motion include Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins, as well as Proud Boys figures Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola. Each had been convicted in cases that prosecutors once described as among the most significant in demonstrating coordinated action rather than spontaneous unrest.
The reversal marks a sharp break from the previous administration’s approach, which framed these prosecutions as essential to reinforcing the rule of law after the attack on the Capitol. Now, the same cases are being reconsidered under a different standard—one that prioritizes dismissal over preservation.
