Federal judges have begun ordering the early release pending appeal of Jan. 6 defendants who challenged their sentences even though the Supreme Court is a week away from hearing arguments on whether a key charge brought against them is legally sound.
A Delaware man who carried a Confederate flag into the Capitol will be let go one year into his three-year term. An Ohio man who overran police lines and became one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol will be set free six months into a 19-month term. And a man who entered the just-evacuated Senate chamber with a Trump flag as a cape was released after serving five months of a 14-month term.
If the Supreme Court ultimately determines the charge they faced was legitimate, they and others who are released early pending appeal could be ordered to return to prison — but that is not a certainty.