Judges grant permission for some Jan. 6 participants to travel to inauguration

The second inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States has drawn interest -- and travelers -- from all over the country and the world, though some of those who planned to attend needed to secure formal permission first.

As the New York Post reports, multiple federal judges have granted permission for some of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol unrest to make their way to D.C. for the inaugural festivities.

Judges say yes

Requests from roughly two dozen Jan. 6 participants to attend Trump's inauguration were granted by the federal judges overseeing their cases.

The individuals involved have either been charged or already been convicted over the roles they played that fateful day, with some succeeding in their quest to head to Washington for Trump's big day.

Though in many instances, defendants in criminal cases are not permitted to return to the scene of their offense while still under the court's jurisdiction, judges in Jan. 6 cases appear to have a taken a more individualized approach to the requests.

Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui was charged with deciding whether Deborah Lynn Lee – convicted of misdemeanor offenses for social media posts made in 2021, and she ultimately decided in the affirmative.

“While the Court is tasked with predicting the future, this is not 'Minority Report.' There has to be credible evidence of future danger to justify related release conditions,” Faruqui explained, seeming to find none in Lee's case.

Some requests denied

As The Hill recently reported, not every Jan. 6 participant who sought permission to attend the inauguration fared as well as Lee, however, with a man named Russell Taylor, currently on probation after a guilty plea to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding, had his request denied.

Taylor hoped to receive permission to travel from his current California location to attend the inauguration in D.C., an event to which he was reportedly invited by lawmakers.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth's evaluation of the facts of Taylor's case, however, led to a denial.

Lamberth's order noted, “Mr. Taylor brought a knife and plate carrier vest to the Capitol and carried a backpack containing a hatchet and stun baton,” and it added that he “pushed past police barricades, encouraged fellow rioters to push against a police line where officers were being visibly assaulted, joined the push himself, and repeatedly threatened the police....”

The judge went on, “While he did not personally assault law enforcement officers, he did threaten them and encourage other rioters who were actively assaulting them. He also contributed meaningfully to the sheer danger of the day's events by arriving armed and armored,” leaving him unconvinced of the wisdom of allowing travel to D.C.

Pardons to come?

Incoming President Trump has, on multiple occasions, signaled an openness to granting a significant number of pardons to individuals present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, something he said he may do “very early on” in his term.

A Sunday report from CNN suggested that such clemency may come swiftly after Trump takes the oath of office, perhaps rendering moot the need for folks like Lee and Russell to make any such requests for special travel permission ever again.