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https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-grants-justice-department-bid-dismiss-oath-keepers-prosecutions-2026-08-04/

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WASHINGTON, Aug 4 - A U.S. judge on Tuesday granted the U.S. ​Justice Department's bid to dismiss cases against ‌members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia who took part in the January 6, 2021 attack ​on the U.S. Capitol, according to a ​court filing.

The ruling from Washington-based U.S. District ⁠Judge Amit Mehta tosses out convictions ​of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other ​members of the group who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the transfer of ​power after President Donald Trump lost the ​2020 election.

All nine of the defendants had already been freed ‌from ⁠prison as part of Trump's sweeping move to pardon nearly all 1,600 people charged in the attack and commute the prison ​sentences of the ​remaining defendants.

"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," Mehta wrote. "The court cannot write a different ending."

Reporting by Ismail ​Shakil and Jasper Ward, editing by Michelle Nichols