Federal Appeals Court: Trump Not Immune From Liability in Civil Lawsuit by Capitol Police Officers

By Ward Clark | 6:40 PM on December 29, 2023

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On Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided to allow a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump to proceed. The lawsuit, brought by a group of Capitol Police officers, claims that Trump and more than a dozen others are responsible for their being "assaulted and harassed" during the January 6th, 2021, protest at the Capitol. In the decision, the judges ruled that Trump is not entitled to absolute immunity from civil lawsuits for actions he took while President.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit based its decision on a ruling in a separate case brought by two Capitol Police officers and a group of House Democrats that was handed down earlier this month. In its Dec. 1 opinion, the D.C. Circuit rejected Trump's claim that he is shielded from civil liability because his alleged actions in connection to the Jan. 6 attack fell within the official functions of the presidency.
In its unsigned opinion Friday, the three judges said the case before them is "indistinguishable" from the other dispute and said Trump's argument that he has immunity "fails."
"'Whether [President Trump's] actions involved speech on matters of public concern bears no inherent connection to the essential distinction between official and unofficial acts,'" Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judges Bradley Garcia and Judith Rogers wrote in their opinion, quoting from the D.C. Circuit's earlier ruling.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Trump previously requested the court dismiss the case, claiming absolute Presidential immunity from civil lawsuits. In January, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, appointed to the District Court by President Obama, rejected Trump's argument and allowed the case to proceed.

Trump is not the only defendant named in the case.

In addition to suing Trump, the officers named more than a dozen others as defendants. Among them are members of the far-right extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, as well as Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally. The Capitol Police officers sought civil damages for the physical and emotional injuries they said they suffered as a result of the Jan. 6 attack.

The lawsuit and the criminal charges against former President Trump are the result of claims that he attempted to interfere with the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The Colorado Supreme Court recently ruled to have President Trump removed from that state's primary ballot on 14th Amendment grounds due to Trump's participation in an "insurrection," while the Maine Secretary of State also announced that Trump would be removed from the Maine primary ballot for the same reason. Trump has neither been indicted for nor convicted of insurrection. Both of those decisions are on hold pending higher court action.

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