How is the defraud statute like the seditious conspiracy statute? Read on.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record here (my apologies for the outdated metaphor) but the seditious conspiracy statute does not imply anything about the need to establish corrupt intent, any more than the first prong of 18 U.S. Code § 371 does. 1/4 @RDEliason @gtconway3d

18 U.S. Code § 2384 — Seditious conspiracy 2/4

The very attempt to do any of these things *is* the offense. It is not at all like a defraud case (like bribery), in which an act might be on its face lawful, and the prosecution has to establish that the intent was corrupt. 3/4

One can give a donation to a politician without committing a crime (it depends on the intent, and whether there was a conspiracy), but one cannot “conspire to overthrow… or to destroy by force…” and *not* commit a crime (as in: try to overturn a legally certified election). 4/4