January 6, 2021, will go down in infamy as the day a mob of rioters stormed the United States Capitol building shortly after President Donald Trump, in remarks at a park near the White House, egged on a crowd of his supporters.
In a defiant screed, Trump repeated his false claims that the presidential election had been stolen through voter fraud and that he, in fact, had been reelected. Joe Biden, he said, was not the rightful winner of the election.
Trump told supporters to “stop the steal” of the election and encouraged them to march in protest to the Capitol, where Congress was in the process of certifying the results of the election, in which Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, and won the popular vote by more than 7 million ballots.
His remarks fanned his supporters to mount a violent attack on the Capitol, where they broke windows to enter the building, sacked offices and even took to the Senate floor. This as the world watched in shock; some lawmakers took refuge in the building, while others, including Vice President Mike Pence, were whisked away by security forces.
Late into the evening and well into Thursday’s early hours, Congress reconvened to certify Biden’s victory. But the insurrection left a death toll of five, and authorities continue to seek out and arrest members of the violent mob.
Micah Schwartzman directs the University of Virginia’s Karsh Center for Law and Democracy in the School of Law. He is the Joseph W. Dorn Research Professor of Law and focuses on law and religion, jurisprudence, political philosophy and constitutional law.

Micah Schwartzman directs the University of Virginia’s Karsh Center for Law and Democracy in the School of Law. (Photo by Andrew Shurtleff)
UVA Today reached out to Schwartzman for his expert opinion on Wednesday’s events in Washington.
Q. What do you think the events mean for how we think of our democratic institutions?
A. The attack on the U.S. Capitol was a disgrace to our democracy and a serious test of our most basic political institutions. How Congress responds between now and the inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris Jan. 20 will be long remembered.
Q. What impact could this have globally on our reputation as a democracy?
A. American democratic institutions have suffered years of degradation, but what happened on Jan. 6 was shocking, both here and around the world. The next administration, along with the other branches of government, must begin what is certain to be a long process of rebuilding our reputation as a leader among democratic nations.
Q. What lessons can we learn from what has happened? What missteps can we avoid?
A. We have to learn to take seriously threats to fundamental institutions, principles and norms. We can’t ignore those threats, or appease those who make them, because they might seem absurd, ludicrous, fringe, joking or too shallow or bumbling to pose any real risk.