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Friday, Nov. 21, 2025

Is sedition punishable by death?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
no

Sedition – typically words intended to incite insurrection against the government – is not punishable by death.

The federal crime is seditious conspiracy, where two or more people conspire to overthrow the government. 

It is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

President Donald Trump on Nov. 20 said: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

His reference was to Democratic lawmakers who two days earlier reminded members of the military to disobey illegal orders. 

Trump’s post prompted a rebuke from U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., among others.Milwaukeean Victor Berger, the first Socialist elected to Congress, was convicted in 1918 of espionage, for his opposition to World War I, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The House refused to seat him on grounds of sedition. But he returned to Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1921.

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