Justice Department moves to erase Jan. 6 convictions of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys leaders

The Justice Department on Tuesday requested that a federal appeals court erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of a group of leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys — two right-wing extremist groups who were involved in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The request asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the individuals’ convictions, effectively erasing their guilty verdicts, and to dismiss the charges with prejudice. A dismissal with prejudice prevents the government from bringing the cases again.

In January 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of most of the roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the 2021 attack on the Capitol after Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020. While most of the defendants received pardons, wiping away their convictions, Trump only commuted the sentences of 14 high-profile defendants to time served, which upheld their convictions while allowing them to leave prison.

The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for the extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn’t receive pardons last January.

The Justice Department referred to only 12 of those defendants in its request on Tuesday. Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, is among those who would benefit.

“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Trump himself faces a series of civil lawsuits related to his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack. A federal judge earlier this month rejected his efforts to end the suits ahead of his trial, which has not been scheduled.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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