Judge Drops Order Barring Rhodes From DC

A federal judge has dropped an order barring Stewart Rhodes and seven other members of the Oath Keepers militia from entering Washington, DC, without court permission. Judge Amit Mehta denied the Justice Department's request to dismiss the terms of supervised release, but he said they would not be enforced, the Hill reports. In 2023, Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years for his role in the Capitol attack. He issued the DC prohibition two days after Rhodes, whose sentence was commuted by President Trump, visited Capitol Hill.

"It is not for this court to divine why President Trump commuted Defendants' sentences, or to assess whether it was sensible to do so," Mehta wrote, vacating his previous order. "The court's sole task is to determine the act's effect." He said he had determined it would be "improper" to modify the sentences "post-commutation," Axios reports. In a statement, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin likened Mehta's order to barring Gen. Mark Milley or others who received "last-minute, preemptive" pardons from President Biden from entering Washington, DC. "The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted—period, end of sentence," Martin said. (More Stewart Rhodes stories.)