Civil lawsuits against former President Donald Trump brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.
A three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Trump’s request to dismiss the suits that accuse him of inciting the violent mob of his supporters.
However, the ruling did not consider whether presidential immunity ultimately shields the former president from liability, with the judges expressing “no view on the ultimate merits of the claims” against Trump.
Trump had challenged a lower court’s ruling denying his effort to throw out the lawsuits, arguing his words involved “matters of public concern” and fall within the scope of absolute presidential immunity.
US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year that Trump’s words during the rally before the storming of the Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”
On that day, Trump urged demonstrators “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” his lawyers have often noted.
Meanwhile, Democrats have emphasized the former president’s call to “fight like hell” during his speech at the White House’s Ellipse, hours before rioters breached the US Capitol building.
Civil lawsuits over the January 6th Capitol riot against Trump, brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers, can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled. AP“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said.
The decision comes as the 77-year-old’s lawyers are arguing he is also immune from prosecution in the separate criminal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith that accuses Trump of illegally plotting to overturn his election loss to President Biden.
The appeals court did not in its ruling that the former president’s defense team could still claim his statements before the Capitol riot were protected under the First Amendment.
Smith is also prosecuting the former president for improperly retaining national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, the only other federal charges he is facing.
Trump has also been charged in Georgia for his attempts to overturn 2020 presidential election results there, and in Manhattan for having allegedly falsified business records to conceal “hush money” to two women before the 2016 election.
The DC ruling underscores the challenges facing Trump as he tries to persuade courts, and potentially juries, that the actions he took in the run-up to the riot were part of his official duties as president.
The judge presiding over his Capitol riot criminal trial is expected to also reject that claim.
A lawyer for Trump, Jesse Binnall, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment on the ruling.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is one of the Democrats alleging that Trump incited violence at the Capitol “and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun.”
A group of other House Democrats, as well as Capitol Police officers James Blasingame and Sidney Hemby, have also filed suits against the former president for his actions.
The officers have argued that Trump was acting “far beyond the ‘outer perimeter’ of his office when he conspired to use violence and intimidation to prevent members of Congress from carrying out their constitutional duty to count Electoral College votes and certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
The current appeal was decided by a unanimous three-court panel that included Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee to the bench who authored his own concurring opinion.
