Oath Keepers
Oath Keepers is an American far-right[1] anti-government militia[1][3] whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of presidential power as prescribed by the United States constitution. It was incorporated in 2009 by founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer and former paratrooper. In 2023, Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, was sentenced to 12 years for the same crime.[4] Three other members have pleaded guilty to this crime, and four other members have been convicted of it.[5][6]
Not to be confused with Promise Keepers.Oath Keepers
Kellye SoRelle (Acting President)
March 2009
2009–
United States[1]
"Not on our watch!"
Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge,
2021 United States Capitol attack,
political violence, harassment, riots, occupations and armed attacks
Active
5,000-38,000[2]
Democratic Party
Black Lives Matter
Left-wing and progressive organizations
The group encourages its members to disobey orders which they believe would violate the U.S. Constitution. Research on their membership determined that two-thirds of the Oath Keepers are former military or law enforcement, and one tenth are active duty military or law enforcement. Most research determined the Oath Keeper membership to be approximately 5,000 members, while leaked data showed Oath Keepers' rosters claiming membership of 38,000.[7][8][9][10]
Several organizations that monitor U.S. domestic terrorism and hate groups describe the Oath Keepers as a far-right extremist or radical group.[1][11] In 2015, Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described the group as "heavily armed extremists with a conspiratorial and anti-government mindset looking for potential showdowns with the government".[12][13] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the group is anti-government and extremist.[14][15][16][17] Former SPLC senior fellow Mark Potok describes the group as "an anti-government group who believe in a wild set of conspiracy theories".[18] The FBI describes the Oath Keepers as a "paramilitary organization" and a "large but loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government has been coopted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights."[19] Some researchers have suggested the Oath Keepers' organizing principle is as a "profit-maximizing firm", rather than the hierarchical and close-knit "club" structure that many other groups in these categories show.[20]
Oath Keepers were present wearing military fatigues during the 2014 and 2015 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri,[21][22][23] when members armed with semi-automatic rifles roamed streets and rooftops.[24][25]
By September 2021, twenty members had been indicted for federal crimes related to the January 2021 Capitol attack, with four pleading guilty.[26][27]
The organization was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in November 2021. Eleven members of the organization, including its founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, were indicted for seditious conspiracy in January 2022.[28] By late April 2022, two of those 11 indicted Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy,[29] and another member who had not been named in the initial indictment pleaded guilty to the same charges on May 4, 2022.[30] A jury found Rhodes and one co-defendant guilty of seditious conspiracy on November 29, 2022.[31] Four more Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy by a separate jury two months later, bringing the total convicted of this rare charge to nine.[32]
Reception
Larry Keller wrote in the SPLC's 2009 report The Second Wave: Return of the Militias that the Oath Keepers "may be a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival."[170] Keller described Richard Mack, an Oath Keeper, as a "longtime militia hero"[170][171] and quoted him as having said, "The greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our federal government. ... One of the best and easiest solutions is to depend on local officials, especially the sheriff, to stand against federal intervention and federal criminality."[170] Mack, a former sheriff, responded by denying the claims, saying, "I have had no contact with any militia group and have never been a member of any militia."[172][173] Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the SPLC, said in an interview that the group has no history of political violence, but that, "The core ideas of these groups relate to the fear that elites in this country and around the world are slowly and steadily and nefariously moving us towards a one-world government, the so-called New World Order."[174]
In 2009, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote in a report that, "The 'orders' the Oath Keepers refuse [to obey] reveal their extreme conspiratorial mindset, because the 'orders' are not instructions ever likely to be actually handed down by Obama or his officials; instead, they are reflective of the anti-government conspiracy theories embraced by the extreme right."[175]
Quoting the Las Vegas Review-Journal, MSNBC political commentator Pat Buchanan wrote: "Oath Keepers, depending on where one stands, are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia." Buchanan himself concluded that "America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right."[176][177]
Fox News Radio host Lou Dobbs spoke with founder Stewart Rhodes on his radio show in 2009 and criticized the SPLC for "perpetuating the same kind of intolerance it claims to condemn."[178] On Hardball with Chris Matthews, Matthews questioned Rhodes about his "vigilante group" and on his "strange view of the world."[178]
Protesters have accused the group of racism, especially after groups of white members armed with rifles congregated in Ferguson during demonstrations related to police brutality.[159]