Justice Department Policy

The Justice Department has filed motions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking judges to vacate seditious-conspiracy convictions and dismiss indictments with prejudice for a dozen Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders whose sentences were commuted by President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025. The filings, signed on behalf of the government by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, seek to erase convictions for high-profile figures including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several named Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders such as Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins. The move is limited to defendants whose sentences were commuted rather than fully pardoned and comes amid a much broader clemency sweep in which Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6 cases; nationwide prosecutions have involved roughly 1,580 defendants with about 1,270 convictions to date.