Trump admin scores big win on effort to reframe the January 6 Capitol attack as federal judge is forced to dismiss case against four Proud Boys

A federal judge has permanently ended one of the Justice Department‘s most significant January 6 prosecutions, dismissing the seditious conspiracy case against four Proud Boys leaders while making clear he disagreed with the circumstances that led to the outcome.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, granted the government’s unopposed motion, ending years of litigation against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

The dismissal marks a major step in the Trump administration‘s effort to unwind the legal consequences of the Capitol attack. It followed a presidential clemency order, an appeals court decision vacating the convictions and a Justice Department motion that Kelly said left him with little choice under separation-of-powers principles.

Kelly invokes Reagan and warns about the precedent being set

Rather than issuing a brief procedural order, Kelly used his opinion to warn about the broader implications of the case.

He cited President Ronald Reagan‘s 1981 inaugural address describing the peaceful transfer of power as a cornerstone of American democracy.

Kelly wrote that Trump’s views on the January 6 prosecutions, “whether based on fact or fiction,” were well known, as was his intention to grant clemency through executive order. He added that preserving the nation’s constitutional system would require Americans across the political spectrum to protect it.

Enrique Tarrio’s separate path through a full pardon

The dismissal applied only to Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola.

Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted alongside them, received a full presidential pardon rather than a sentence commutation. Kelly had sentenced Tarrio to 22 years in prison, the longest sentence imposed in any Capitol riot case.

Because Tarrio received a pardon, his conviction followed a different legal path from his co-defendants.

Reacting on X, Tarrio said he and the others had endured raids, solitary confinement and what he described as lies before declaring justice had finally been served.

The prosecutor who filed the motion

The dismissal request was filed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., after the D.C. Circuit vacated the convictions in May.

A prosecutor in Pirro’s office, G.A. Massucco-LaTaif, told the court that Trump’s blanket clemency proclamation required the Justice Department to dismiss all remaining January 6-related prosecutions, leaving prosecutors unable to continue the case.

Kelly relied on longstanding Supreme Court precedent in concluding he lacked authority to keep the prosecution alive once the government sought dismissal.

Under that precedent, prosecutors have broad discretion over whether criminal cases continue, including after a jury has returned guilty verdicts.

A parallel case still pending against the oath keepers

The Proud Boys case is not the only January 6 seditious conspiracy prosecution affected by Trump’s clemency orders.

A separate request to dismiss convictions against Oath Keepers leaders remains pending before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has asked the Justice Department to provide additional justification before ruling.

How the appeals court cleared the way

Before Kelly dismissed the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the convictions on May 21, 2026, sending the matter back to the district court.

Fox News reported in April that the Justice Department had asked the appeals court to vacate convictions involving both Proud Boys and Oath Keepers defendants, arguing continued prosecution no longer served the interests of justice.

The appeals ruling was a necessary procedural step because sentence commutations ended the defendants’ prison terms without eliminating the underlying convictions.

Public reaction split sharply along partisan lines

Reaction quickly divided along familiar political lines.

Supporters of the defendants portrayed the ruling as complete vindication. One widely shared X post declared: “BREAKING: PROUD BOYS WON!!! MY BROTHERS AND MINE ARE VINDICATED, INDICTMENT VACATED!!!” while critics argued the dismissal reflected the administration’s broader effort to reverse prosecutions stemming from the Capitol attack.