A U.S. federal court has dismissed a seditious conspiracy lawsuit against four members of the far-right Proud Boys group involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On Friday, Judge Timothy J. Kelly, an appointee of President Donald Trump, granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened in the future.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
But Kelly clarified that the defendants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, were “convicted of serious crimes.”
In his seven-page ruling, he said his decision was ultimately rooted in the separation of governmental powers, not the merits of the case.
“As the court has stated numerous times, the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a dangerous event. It was an attack on people, including police officers, many of whom were injured,” Kelly wrote.
“This was an attack on the constitutional mechanisms that are meant to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next,” he added.
Inside the January 6 riot
Friday’s ruling marked another milestone in President Trump’s efforts to end the prosecution of the Jan. 6 rioters.
The attack on the Capitol occurred shortly after Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden. However, in the aftermath of his defeat, President Trump spread false claims that the election was fraudulent.
January 6, 2021, was the day Congress was scheduled to certify the electoral votes and confirm Trump’s defeat.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence had a ceremonial role overseeing the certification that day. However, Mr. Trump reportedly pressured Mr. Pence behind the scenes to reject the election results.
At noon, President Trump held a “Save America” rally in front of the White House, repeating to his supporters that he had “won by a landslide.”
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we can win the election,” Trump said. At another time, he said, “If we don’t fight desperately, our country will no longer exist.”
Some of his supporters then marched to the Capitol and broke into the building, attacking police officers and causing millions of dollars worth of damage. The protesters indicated their goal was to prevent the vote from being certified, with some chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
This attack turned out to be deadly. One rioter was shot and killed by police as he tried to enter the Speaker’s lobby through a broken window. The officer died of a stroke the day after he was beaten. Some died by suicide after the attack. Lawmakers had to be escorted to a safe location.
Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against about 1,600 people involved.
But President Trump has long defended the rioters, calling their prosecution a “national injustice.”
Trump himself faces two criminal charges, one at the state level and one at the federal level, for allegedly trying to overturn the election results, but the charges were dropped after he was re-elected in 2024.
unraveling the prosecution
Calling the January 6 indictments an example of the “weaponization” of the government, Trump campaigned on a promise to pardon the rioters during the 2024 campaign.
He fulfilled that promise on the first day of his second term. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order granting “full, complete and unconditional pardons” to most of the defendants involved in the storming of the Capitol.
Mr. Trump also commuted the sentences of 14 people, including Mr. Nordean, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Lehr, and Mr. Pezzola. Under his authority, the Department of Justice also moved on January 6th to dismiss the ongoing case.
Judge Kelly cited a series of events in Friday’s ruling, but appeared to express some skepticism.
“The court’s grant of the government’s motion should not be misconstrued as a concurrence with these decisions,” Kelly wrote.
In May 2023, a jury in Washington, D.C., along with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, convicted Nordean, Biggs, and Lehr on charges including seditious conspiracy.
Pezzola, on the other hand, was acquitted of sedition conspiracy, but was convicted of multiple felonies, including assaulting a police officer. The four were sentenced to 10 to 18 years in prison, with Pezzola receiving the lightest sentence of the group.
However, Judge Kelly weighed the future of the lawsuit against the four men, explaining that it was “hard to imagine” any other path forward other than dismissal.
Kelly explained that the court system cannot “force” the executive branch to prosecute. President Trump’s executive order also required the Justice Department to dismiss the lawsuit.
“The court will likely grant the motion because there is no basis for the government to withhold the grace to dismiss the case with prejudice,” Kelly concluded.
But he concluded his decision with words of caution to protect the future of American democracy from further attacks.
“If this nation’s experiment in self-governance is to continue for another 250 years, Americans, regardless of partisan preferences, will have to come together to preserve, protect, and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.
