Dear Reader,

As the results of the presidential election have set in a little deeper each day, I am continually struck by the thought of some new horror that awaits in the dark days ahead—the inevitable dismissal of the federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, the likelihood of replacing aging justices on the Supreme Court with newer, more conservative models, a Republican Senate majority that will greenlight even Trump’s worst nominees for cabinet posts.

One of the worst of these awful realizations is that Trump could pardon the defendants charged with committing crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

According to the Department of Justice, the attack injured 140 police officers and caused $2.8 million in property damage. Nine people died as a result of the attack, five at the Capitol, including a police officer, and four other officers who later took their own lives.

In addition to the human toll and monetary loss, the cost of shattering the tradition of the peaceful transfer of presidential power is immeasurable. Images of rioters climbing through windows, beating police officers, and marauding through the halls of Congress are seared into the collective memory of the American public.

To date, more than 1,500 individuals have been charged with crimes. Offenses of conviction include seditious conspiracy, assault, and weapons offenses. Almost 1,000 of the defendants have entered guilty pleas, and another 200 have been convicted at trial.

The rioters, of course, had stormed the Capitol after Trump gave a fiery speech on the Ellipse near the White House, falsely claiming that Joe Biden had stolen the 2020 presidential election, and urging the mob “to fight like hell.”

During the 2024 campaign, Trump said he would “absolutely consider” pardons for the defendants charged with crimes for their conduct at the Capitol, even calling them the “J6 patriots.” In 2023, Trump joined a group of imprisoned defendants who called themselves the “J6 Prison Choir” on a recording called “Justice for All,” in which Trump recited the pledge of allegiance as the prisoners sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” in the background. You can find the recording on Apple Music.

Trump now refers to one of the most violent days in American democracy as “a day of love.” It is difficult to square that characterization with DOJ reports that the Jan. 6 defendants possessed guns, tasers, axes, hatchets, knives, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, zip ties, and a sword.

Some of the defendants are already filing motions to delay their sentencing based on Trump’s statements about pardons. To date, judges have rejected these requests. Pardons serve as a show of mercy for offenders, but these defendants are far from deserving.

First, pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants would be a devastating blow to the rule of law. The reason we punish defendants who violate the law is to protect the public and to deter them from committing similar crimes in the future. In addition, convictions and prison time are necessary to send a message that others who engage in similar conduct in the future will be brought to justice. Pardons would send the opposite message—that as long as crimes are committed in service of those in power, all is forgiven, even celebrated.

Second, pardons would encourage vigilante violence. In this country, we leave the enforcement of the law to trained police officers and the resolution of legal matters to the courts. A person who is unhappy with the outcome of a dispute is not entitled to simply take the law into his own hands and use brute force to obtain his preferred results. During the 2020 election, audits and lawsuits were unsuccessful in overturning the outcome of the election. And yet, the rioters refused to accept their decisions and abide by them. To disregard the decisions of election officials and courts is to denounce democracy and the legal system. If you disagree with your bank over your account balance, you can raise the issue with the manager or even file a lawsuit, but you can’t reach into the teller drawer and take the money, even if you genuinely think it is owed to you. The same is true when it comes to the outcome of an election.

Finally, pardons of these defendants would condone political violence. We’ve already seen an increase in threats and harassment against public officials in recent years. The idea that individuals who engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police officers who are safeguarding the symbolic center of American democracy would normalize violence in a way that would be dangerous to elected officials at every level of government in America—if you’re unhappy with a decision by a public official, just bring a baseball bat to city hall to coerce compliance with your view or to chill the speech and conduct of leaders. Over time, people of integrity would refuse to seek public office.

Let’s hope that pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants go the way of some of Trump’s other campaign promises, like repealing Obamacare or building a wall on the southwest border and making Mexico pay for it. In fact, Obamacare remains alive and popular. As for the wall, during his first term, Trump completed just 40 miles of new construction over the 2,000-mile border.

Pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants are not just unwarranted—they would make one of America’s darkest days even darker.

Stay Informed,

Barb