A judge is stopping a Jan. 6 defendant from attending President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration. 

This comes, according to NBC News, after the defendant, Russell Taylor, was invited to the event by a former member of Congress.

This, in turn, has led to a big legal dispute about whether Taylor ought to be allowed to attend the event.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth released an order on Friday saying that Taylor is not.

Background

We are in January 2025, but the events of Jan. 6, 2021, are still relevant. This was the day, of course, when the Capitol protest took place. It is also the day when a Trump supporter named Ashli Babbit was shot dead by Capitol Police.

Since then, the Biden administration has vigorously prosecuted hundreds of individuals involved in the protest. While there is no doubt that some of these individuals should have been prosecuted, Trump and other Republicans have argued that the Biden administration has gone too far.

For this reason, Trump is expected, after entering office, to review these cases and to use his pardon power to fix any injustices.

In between now and then, however, will be Trump's inauguration, which is scheduled to take place on Jan. 20, 2025.

Former U.S. Rep. Christ Stewart (R-UT) along with three other Congress members invited Taylor to the event.

The latest

The invitation led to a big legal dispute about whether Taylor ought to be allowed to attend, given what he did on Jan. 6, 2021.

For those unfamiliar with his case, NBC reports, "[he] was accused of organizing a group of 'fighters' to travel to D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding, and he went on to cooperate with the government by providing testimony against the Three Percenters militia."

Apparently, though, Taylor has not sufficiently redeemed himself, at least according to Judge Lamberth.

In his recent decision, Lamberth wrote:

To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege. It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration, and who openly glorified '[i]nsurrection' against the United States.

Taylor has responded to the order through his attorney, Dyke Huish. Huish said that his client "understands the court's denial of his request." Accordingly, Taylor will not be attending the inauguration.