Sedition, conspiracy.Rare, but now part of Jan. 6...

What is a seditious conspiracy? Rare, but now part of Jan. 6

Sedition, conspiracy. Those big words are now being used on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection criminal cases after prosecutors charged 11 people Thursday.

But what do the terms mean, anyway?

Seditious conspiracy occurs when two or more people in the U.S. conspired to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the U.S. government, or to levy war against it, or to oppose by force and try to prevent the execution of any law. If convicted, it's 20 years behind bars.

But that Civil War-era charge is rarely ever used, because it's hard to prove and harder to win.

 

Insurrection: What’s the Difference?

Since the events at the Capitol on January 6, there has been a lot of discussion of the terms sedition, insurrection, and treason. But what are the legal definitions of these three acts, and how are they different from one another?