The Daily Fuckup

WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump prepared to return to the White House, some people charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack were getting permission from judges to travel to Washington for his inauguration. Court filings showed a mix of outcomes: at least 20 defendants asked for travel approval, at least 11 were approved, at least eight were denied and one request was still pending.

The requests were handled case by case, often with defendants still subject to supervision conditions. In several cases, Justice Department prosecutors opposed the travel, arguing that people accused or convicted in connection with the Capitol breach should not be allowed back in Washington for the inauguration while they remained under court oversight.

That left judges making individualized calls based on the terms of supervision, the status of each case and whatever risk concerns were raised by prosecutors or probation officers. Some defendants were asking for brief, limited trips. Others wanted permission to attend the inauguration itself or related events in the city.

The filings are a reminder that the legal fallout from Jan. 6 is still active even as Trump prepares to take office again. The Capitol attack produced thousands of criminal cases, and many defendants remain under conditions that restrict where they can go and what they can do. Travel requests for the inauguration did not change those rules; they just forced courts to decide, one by one, whether Washington was off-limits for the people tied to that day.

The result is a narrow legal question with a bigger political backdrop. The inauguration is meant to mark a transfer of power. For defendants still living with the consequences of the Capitol riot, it also became another occasion for courts to weigh whether that transfer should happen in the same city where the attack unfolded.