Judge drops order barring Rhodes, other Oath Keepers from entering DC without court permission

A federal judge on Monday walked back his order barring Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and seven other members of the right-wing extremist group from entering Washington, D.C., without the court’s permission after President Trump commuted their sentences for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the Oath Keepers conspiracy trials, vacated the order after determining that it would be “improper” to modify their original sentences “post-commutation.”

“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, denying the Justice Department’s request to “dismiss” the Oath Keepers’ supervised release terms altogether but acknowledging they will not be enforced. 

“The court’s sole task is to determine the act’s effect,” he said.

The initial order also blocked the Oath Keepers from entering the U.S. Capitol or surrounding grounds without permission, which was put into place after Rhodes was spotted last week in the Capitol complex, where he sought to advocate for the release of another Oath Keeper shortly after his own release from prison.

Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he was convicted of plotting to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election by force.

Mehta explained that, after Trump’s commutations, it appeared that the terms of supervised release would be adhered to by those involved. He noted that Rhodes himself publicly declared he would “report to [his] probation officer,” following his release from prison.

Though stay-away conditions weren’t initially added to Rhodes’s and the other Oath Keepers members’ sentences, Mehta said he consulted with the probation office and received confirmation that such an order would be appropriate.

However, Trump’s Justice Department quickly opposed the order, asking Mehta to dismiss the terms of their supervised release because those terms fell within Trump’s commutation of their sentences.

“If a judge decided that Jim Biden, General Mark Milley, or another individual were forbidden to visit America’s capital — even after receiving a last-minute, preemptive pardon from the former President — I believe most Americans would object,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin said in a statement. “The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted — period, end of sentence.” 

Trump commuted the sentences of 14 Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders to time served, in addition to granting “full, complete and unconditional” pardons to all other Jan. 6 defendants.

“The unconditional quality of President Trump’s Proclamation thus can reasonably be read to extinguish enforcement of Defendants’ terms of supervised release,” Mehta wrote.