U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly dismissed the seditious conspiracy charges against four members of the Proud Boys on Friday. The judge, appointed by former President Donald Trump, granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice. He wrote that his decision rested on separation of powers rather than the merits of the underlying allegations. The Department of Justice, which opened criminal investigations into nearly 1,600 individuals under the Biden administration, pursued the case after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump, who called the prosecutions a national injustice, signed an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025 granting a full pardon to most Jan. 6 defendants and commuting the sentences of 14, including the four defendants. The order required the Justice Department to seek dismissal of pending cases. Kelly noted that the court cannot compel the executive branch to continue prosecutions. In his written opinion he warned that the nation’s democratic experiment will endure only if citizens act together to protect it. The dismissal leaves the legal status of the four men unchanged by the pardon, and the broader question of accountability for the Jan. 6 events remains open.