Sedition Remembrance Day (AKA- Insurrection Remembrance Day): January 6.

In response to the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol, the Joint Chiefs of Staff penned a letter denouncing the rioters’ behavior and emphasizing that the “rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection.” This analysis defines acts of sedition and insurrection and evaluates the seriousness of both charges.

 

Q1: What is “sedition” and “insurrection”?

A1: Generally, sedition is conduct or speech that incites individuals to violently rebel against the authority of the government. Insurrection includes the actual acts of violence and rebellion. In a monarchy, sedition might refer to actions instigating the removal of a king or queen. In a constitutional democracy, sedition and insurrection refer to inciting or participating in rebellion against the constitutionally established government, its processes and institutions, or the rule of law. In other words, in the United States’ democracy, violently overthrowing the government or its institutions is overthrowing the Constitution itself. One cannot commit sedition or insurrection to “overthrow a government” while still claiming to uphold and defend the Constitution. The U.S. government, the rule of law, and the Constitution are inextricably linked, and violent attacks on any of the three are not protected actions.

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Under 18 U.S.C. § 2384, “seditious conspiracy” occurs when two or more persons:

conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to 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.