Prior to the opening arguments in the Oath Keepers trial for seditious conspiracy, the media buzzed with speculation over the "novel" defense being offered by the leader of the militia, Stewart Rhodes, and the legal team. As the Associated Press reports, even though members of the group stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, lawyers were prepared to argue that the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy are innocent, despite mounting evidence of prior organizing. Rhodes, his team claims, believed the president would invoke the Insurrection Act to call up militias, which means the defendants thought they were acting under legal orders from the president.
Rhodes graduated from Yale Law, though he was disbarred in 2015 for repeated ethics violations. He and his legal team have hyped his Ivy law credential to the media, implanting the idea that their defense theory, which otherwise might be regarded as grasping, must have real juice. But close observers have detected signs that lawyers for the Oath Keepers aren't all that confident. As Vice reported last week, the Rhodes team is embroiled in in-fighting. They even tried for a delay, claiming they weren't ready for trial even though their client had been indicted in January. During jury selection, a lawyer for co-defendant Thomas Caldwell "jokingly" complained about the number of lawyers in the jury pool, indicating a possible drop in confidence at the thought of selling this defense to jurors who actually know the law.
