Seditious conspiracy

[2] Seditious conspiracy, like other forms of sedition, developed during the late medieval period to apply to activities that threatened the social order but fell short of constructive treason.

Enforcement of both types of offence under the Tudors and Stuarts grew increasingly harsh; courts judged the accused's intentions suspiciously, allowing juries to decide only whether the alleged events had occurred.

A substantially similar offense appeared in the Sedition Act of 1798 signed by President John Adams to suppress the Democratic-Republican Party's criticisms of the Quasi-War.

[11] Edwin Walker, a former Army Major General, was arrested for seditious conspiracy and insurrection in 1962 after he incited a segregationist riot to prevent the admission of black student James Meredith at the University of Mississippi; the charges were dismissed.

In the 1987 Fort Smith sedition trial, Louis Beam and nine other white supremacists were indicted for the activities of The Order and The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord.

In 2010 the United States Department of Justice attempted to prosecute the Christian nationalist Hutaree militia of Lenawee County, Michigan, for seditious conspiracy.

[24] On May 4, 2023, Tarrio and three of the other Proud Boys leaders — Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, and Zachary Rehl — were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.

[27] Upon Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, he commuted the sentences of six of the Oath Keepers (Rhodes, Meggs, Minuta, Vallejo, Moerschel, and Hackett) and three of the Proud Boys (Nordean, Biggs, Rehl) who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.

[29][30][31] President Biden and certain special interest groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers had already previously accused Trump of sedition for his speech at the rally before the attack.