Many of us have previously stated that any executive relief should not extend to violent offenders, particularly those who attacked police officers. Among those was Vice President J.D. Vance who said “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.” However, that advice appears to have been discarded in the issuance of these pardons and commutations, including members of extreme groups like the Proud Boys.
In my book, The Indispensable Right, I explored the J6 cases and what some of us view as the excesses of the Justice Department in the treatment of many defendants. That included sentences and conditions that contravened free speech as well as terms that seemed driven by the promise to carry out a campaign of “shock and awe.” (While the book calls for the elimination of sedition-based crimes (which include seditious conspiracy charges used in a small number of J6 cases), that is a matter for Congress.
Nevertheless, the book stressed that violent offenders and groups involved in the attacks warranted severe punishment. When Trump campaigned on granting pardons, many of us believed that such action should not extend to such figures. January 6th was a desecration of our constitutional process. Those who attacked officers and engaged in violence were justifiably hit with heavy penalties.
The prosecutors originally charged roughly a third of the cases with violence against officers. Even when you remove the violent cases, the majority of cases still included hundreds of prosecutions without violent elements. If there were to be pardons and commutations, those cases should have been the focus.
Instead, this action extended to violent cases. This included Isreal James Easterday, who received 30 months for pepper spraying an officer. It also included Daniel Joseph “DJ” Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 151 months for not only calling for violence before the riot but then attacking an officer.
It also included Thomas Andrew Casselman, who was sentenced to 40 months for pepper spraying an officer and Curtis Davis who was sentenced to 24 months for punching officers.
There are clearly others.
President Trump clearly ran on this pledge, though it was not clear what the scope of the relief would be. There were many citizens who wanted to see closure. However, polls also showed that voters routinely drew a line at those who engaged in violence.
Supporters point to the fact that both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton pardoned figures who attacked the Capitol. However, that is no justification for this relief. Even if you believe that relief is warranted, it should not extend to those who attacked officers. Moreover, to convert commutations to full pardons for these cases would only compound the wrong. These officers fought to defend the Capitol and the constitutional process. Those who attacked them warranted convictions and punishment.