WASHINGTON — Over the past four years, judges at Washington’s federal courthouse have handed down sentences to hundreds of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unprecedented attack on American democracy. With the next presidential election on the horizon, some of these judges are worried that another wave of political violence could be coming.

Until recently, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he prays that Americans will accept the results of next month’s election. However, the veteran judge expressed concern that Donald Trump and his allies are spreading the same kind of conspiracy theories that fueled the mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

“That sore loser is saying the same things he said before,” Walton said earlier this month without mentioning the Republican presidential nominee by name. “He’s riling up the troops again, so if he doesn’t get what he wants, it’s not inconceivable that we will experience that same situation again. And who knows? It could be worse.”

Walton, a nominee of President George W. Bush, is not alone. Other judges have also expressed concerns that the political climate is ripe for another attack similar to the one that injured more than 100 police officers at the Capitol. As Election Day approaches, judges are increasingly emphasizing the need to send a message beyond their courtrooms that political violence cannot be tolerated.

“It scares me to think about what will happen if anyone on either side is not happy with the results of the election,” Judge Jia Cobb, a nominee of President Joe Biden, said during a sentencing hearing last month for four Capitol rioters.

Judge Rudolph Contreras voiced his worries about the potential for more politically motivated violence as he sentenced a Colorado man, Jeffrey Sabol, who helped other rioters drag a police officer into the mob. Sabol later admitted to FBI agents that a “call to battle was announced” and that he had “answered the call because he was a patriot warrior.”

“It doesn’t take much imagination to imagine a similar call coming out in the coming months, and the court would be concerned that Mr. Sabol would answer that call in the same way,” Contreras, a President Barack Obama nominee, said in March before sentencing Sabol to more than five years in prison.

Trump’s distorted portrayal of the Jan. 6 attack has been a key element of his campaign to return to the White House. The former president has denied any responsibility for the actions of his supporters who smashed windows, assaulted police officers, and forced lawmakers to flee into hiding as they met to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

Trump has pledged to pardon rioters, whom he calls “patriots” and “hostages,” if he wins in November. He has also stated that he would only accept the results of the upcoming election if it’s “free and fair,” echoing his baseless claims from 2020.

Judges have repeatedly used their position on the bench to condemn these attempts to minimize the violence on Jan. 6 and portray the rioters as political prisoners. Some have also expressed concern about the implications of such rhetoric for the future of the country and its democracy.

“We’re in a real difficult time in our country, and I hope we can survive it,” Walton said this month while sentencing a Tennessee nurse who used a pair of medical scissors to smash a glass door at the Capitol.

“I’ve got a young daughter, I’ve got a young grandson, and I would like for America to be available to them and be as good to them as it has been to me,” he added. “But I don’t know if we survive with the mentality that took place that day.”

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 siege, which disrupted the peaceful transition of presidential power for the first time in the nation’s history. Over 1,000 rioters have been found guilty and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.

Justice Department prosecutors have argued in many cases that a prison sentence is necessary to discourage convicted Capitol rioters from engaging in further politically motivated violence.

“With the 2024 presidential election approaching and many loud voices in the media and online continuing to sow discord and distrust, the potential for a repeat of January 6 looms ominously,” prosecutors have repeatedly warned in court filings.

Prosecutors argue that defendants who have shown little or no remorse for their actions on Jan. 6 could break the law again. Some rioters even seem to be proud of their crimes.

The texted his mother, “I’ll go again given the opportunity.” A man from Washington state who stormed the Capitol with fellow Proud Boys extremist group members told a judge, “You can give me 100 years and I’d do it all over again.” A Kentucky nurse who joined the riot that she would “do it again tomorrow.”

A Colorado woman known to her social media followers as the “J6 praying grandma” avoided a prison sentence in August when a magistrate judge sentenced her for disorderly conduct and trespassing on Capitol grounds. Rebecca Lavrenz told the judge that God, not Trump, led her to Washington on Jan. 6.

“And she has all but promised to do it all over again,” said prosecutor Terence Parker.

Prosecutors had sought 10 months behind bars. After her April trial conviction, Lavrenz went on a “media blitz” to defend the mob, spread misinformation, undermine confidence in the courts and boost her celebrity in a community that believes Jan. 6 “was a good day for this country,” Parker said.

Magistrate Zia Faruqui sentenced Lavrenz to six months of home confinement and fined her $103,000, stressing the need to “lower the volume” before the next election.

“These outside influences, the people that are tearing our country apart, they’re not going to help you,” Faruqui told her.