Kimberly Atkins Stohr writes:

The insurrectionists were inside the US Capitol building, waving flags, shouting demands and targeting lawmakers with deadly threats in a politically-motivated revolt. The damage from the siege, which shocked the nation, is still visible in the House chamber.

The perpetrators of that attack and their accomplices were charged and convicted of, among other crimes, seditious conspiracy. That federal statute criminalizes plots to overthrow the government or to forcefully “prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof.” They received prison sentences that can be measured not just in years, but decades.

Is this news to you? If so, perhaps it is because this attack on the seat of our nation’s government happened in 1954. It was carried out by Puerto Rican nationalists demanding independence for the US territory, who opened fire in the House chamber, wounding five members of Congress, one severely. Miraculously, no one died.

Yet as we approach the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 violent besiegement of the Capitol by a largely white mob of pro-Trump rioters bent on forcefully stopping the certification of the 2020 election results, not a single one of the more than 700 people who have been arrested has been charged with seditious conspiracy or the similar federal crime of insurrection. Yes, insurrection is a crime — one that carries, as a penalty, the inability to hold any future elected office. That’s quite relevant in this case, as well.

The lack of charges are despite the fact that the attack wasn’t just on those inside the building, but on democracy itself. [Continue reading…]