A federal judge has dismissed criminal cases against eight members of the Oath Keepers militia convicted over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after the Justice Department asked to vacate their convictions.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta erased the seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and seven other members who were found guilty of plotting to block the peaceful transfer of power following President Donald Trump's 2020 election defeat.

The defendants had already been released from prison after Trump granted sweeping pardons and sentence commutations to nearly all of the roughly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Capitol riot.

Although Mehta granted the Justice Department's request, he sharply criticized the decision in a written opinion, saying he was bound by prosecutors' authority to dismiss the cases.

"Today's epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of presidential power — to buckle," Mehta wrote. "The court cannot write a different ending."

The Justice Department has also moved to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of several Proud Boys leaders convicted in connection with the Capitol attack.

The eight Oath Keepers were among a small group of Jan. 6 defendants whose convictions had remained intact because Trump had not issued them full pardons. The Justice Department argued the cases should be dismissed to carry out Trump's stated goal of ending all remaining Jan. 6 prosecutions during his second term.

Trump has repeatedly described Jan. 6 defendants as victims of political prosecutions and has argued they were treated unfairly by the justice system. Several of the Oath Keepers had already appealed their convictions before the Justice Department sought to have them dismissed.

Jurors had found leaders of both groups guilty of organizing efforts to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after prosecutors said he and other Oath Keepers organized "quick reaction force" teams that stockpiled firearms at a Virginia hotel, though the weapons were never deployed during the attack.

Nicholas Smith, an attorney for Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean, praised the Justice Department's decision, saying he did not want "a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy."

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack after being assaulted during the Capitol attack, condemned the dismissals.

"I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country," Fanone said. "They planned, incited and carried out an insurrection."