Trending: ‘sedition’

Sedition was among our top lookups on September 14, 2020, after Michael Caputo, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, without evidence accused career scientists at the CDC organizing a "resistance unit" for "sedition" against President Trump, according to The New York Times:

The top communications official at the powerful cabinet department in charge of combating the coronavirus accused career government scientists on Sunday of “sedition” in their handling of the pandemic and warned that left-wing hit squads were preparing for armed insurrection after the election.

Sedition is defined as "incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority" or "conduct tending to treason but without an overt act."

Sedition came to English from French, and ultimately from the Latin word meaning "civil discord," "faction," or, literally, "separation."

There have been U.S. laws known as "sedition acts" in the past, including the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Sedition Act of 1918, both of which made it criminal to use speech to incite resistance against the government or its decisions.