The pardons, described by Trump as a step toward “national reconciliation,” have led federal judges in Washington, D.C., to issue fiery responses to defendants seeking to have the Trump Justice Department remove their cases from the docket.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who oversaw Trump’s 2020 election federal criminal case, issued one of the most graphic condemnations Wednesday as she dismissed a pending case against a Capitol rioter.

“This cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake,” Chutkan wrote in a filing for defendant John Banuelo. “And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.”

Chutkan went on to highlight the judiciary’s work in holding over 1,000 rioters accountable, emphasizing that the historical record of these cases must remain unaltered as a testament and warning.

Judge Beryl Howell, the former chief judge of the D.C. District Court appointed by Obama, also weighed in, sharply criticizing Trump’s justification for the mass pardons. 

“No ‘process of national reconciliation’ can begin when poor losers, whose preferred candidate loses an election, are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity,” Howell wrote in a filing for Proud Boys member Nicholas Ochs. “That merely raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law.”

Howell dismissed several pending cases this week at the request of the Justice Department, which no longer seeks to prosecute them under Trump’s directive. However, Howell and Chutkan refused to dismiss certain cases “with prejudice,” leaving the possibility open for future prosecution. One of these cases involved a chapter leader of the Proud Boys extremist group.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, offered her own pointed remarks in a response to defendant Dominic Box’s case dismissal Wednesday, saying no presidential proclamation could erase the truth of Jan. 6.

“Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened,” she wrote.

“Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies,” she said, praising the law enforcement officers who stood against the mob, saying, “Standing with bear spray streaming down their faces, those officers carried out their duty to protect.”

The sharpest remarks of the week came Thursday from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee who blasted the notion of dismissing cases with prejudice.

“Such a dismissal would dishonor the hundreds of law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line against impossible odds to protect not only the U.S. Capitol building and the people who worked there — who were huddled inside in terror as windows and doors were shattered — but to protect the very essence of democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.” Jackson added, “Patriotism is loyalty to country and loyalty to the Constitution — not loyalty to a single head of state.”

Trump’s pardons, issued late Monday, released convicted rioters from federal prisons and halted prosecutions for hundreds of pending cases. In his executive order, Trump called the prosecutions a “grave national injustice” and framed his action as a corrective measure.

“It was a terrible time and a terrible chapter in America’s history,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in defense of the pardons. “The president made his decision. I don’t second guess those.”

Some firebrand supporters of Trump slammed the judges for engaging in “political rhetoric” from their chambers and further alleged that their rhetoric against the defendants was emblematic that they were never treated fairly during their legal proceedings.

For instance, Jesse Franklin-Murdock, counsel for the Dhillon Law Group, said Chutkan’s remarks “neither explain her decision nor clarify the law. She is using the imprimatur of her office to engage in political rhetoric.”

“If she can’t apply the law to a J6er without condemning them, how can it be said that J6ers and Trump received due process in her courtroom?” the attorney wrote on X.

Conservative journalist Julie Kelly, who was touted by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as having played a major role in advising Trump on pardons, called for the judges to be investigated, adding “impeach or reassign them all” in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has begun notifying victims of the riot, including police officers, about the releases.

Aquilino Gonell, a former U.S. Capitol Police sergeant who testified about the attack, shared his frustration on social media.

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“Each email and call log is a different violent rioter who assaulted me in the tunnel,” Gonell wrote.

“If you are defending these people who brutally assaulted the police, maybe you ARE NOT a supporter of the police and the rule of law to begin with,” he added.