US appeals court shoots down Trump’s immunity argument in lawsuit filed by Jan. 6 cops



US Capitol Police officers who were harmed battling supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 can move forward with their lawsuits, following a Friday ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Messenger reported that the DC Circuit affirmed a previous decision from the US District Court for the District of Columbia — whose docket has been packed with January 6-related cases in the years following the deadly riot – that the former president was not immune from accountability in civil matters concerning the Blassingame v. Trump case.

"President Trump had contended that he should be afforded immunity because his alleged actions constituted speech on matters of public concern. Such speech was, in his view, 'invariably an official function.' We rejected that argument," the ruling read.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

"The salient question in Blassingame, we explained, was instead whether President Trump’s alleged actions reasonably could be understood as official functions of the presidency, in which case official-act immunity would attach, or, alternatively, whether they reasonably could be understood only as re-election activity, in which case it would not," the court added.

Plaintiffs James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, both of whom are US Capitol police officers, sued Trump for $75,000 apiece, claiming that his debunked claims about the 2020 election resulted in a mob of his supporters breaching their workplace and inflicting both physical and mental injuries to officers in the process.

The latest ruling from the DC Circuit rejecting the former president's claims of civil immunity comes shortly after the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals came to a similar conclusion earlier this week in the ongoing defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump had previously claimed in that case that because his 2019 statement suggesting Carroll was fabricating her allegations that Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York City department store in the 1990s was made while he was president, he shouldn't be held accountable in court. The 2nd Circuit on Thursday rejected that claim.

Trump's assertion of absolute presidential immunity would ostensibly be just for him, as the former president has stated on the campaign stump that if elected to a second term, he would deputize his Department of Justice to prosecute Biden and his family. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear oral argument concerning Trump's claims of immunity from criminal matters on January 8.

READ MORE: US appeals court hands Trump another loss in E. Jean Carroll case



from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/9wpdWfS
via sinceretalk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How misinformation could shape the Israel-Hamas war

Image
I wanted to interview Nicholas Grossman regarding the role of misinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. In particular, I hoped to ask the professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, and senior editor of Arc Digital , about misinformation that arose from American reporting on an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. You know what? I ended up repeating a bit of misinformation! I asked him to lay out the facts about a blast that “killed hundreds, including kids,” and he said nuh-uh (not his words). In fact, Professor Grossman said, “there never were hundreds killed by an explosion at that hospital. Media reported that the hospital was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike killing 500, but that was based on something a Hamas-controlled agency said and was never supported by evidence.” Professor Grossman went on to say “what apparently did happen is something hit a nearby parking lot and caused a smaller explosion, most likely a rocket fired from Gaza towards I
Read more

PA GOP Senate candidate who says he 'started with nothing' actually grew up in a mansion

Image
David McCormick, who is Pennsylvania's presumptive Republican U.S. Senate nominee, has often suggested he grew up poor in a rural community. But a new report finds that his upbringing was far more affluent than he's suggested. The New York Times reported Friday that McCormick — a former hedge fund executive who lived in Connecticut as recently as 2022 — has been cagey with voters about his childhood. McCormick has tweeted that he was "raised in Bloomsburg working on his family's farm," said on a 2022 podcast that he " started with nothing " and told CBS News that same year that he " didn't have anything " growing up as the son of two schoolteachers. But according to the Times , McCormick's father, Dr. James H. McCormick , was appointed president of what is now Bloomsburg University by Gov. Milton Schapp (D) in 1973. He moved his family into Buckalew Place — the official mansion for presidents of the school that currently spans 5
Read more

'It is his aphrodisiac': Ex-RNC chair explains how gag order 'stimulates' Trump and his base

Image
As President Donald Trump faces gag orders in two separate cases — one from Judge Arthur Engoron presiding over his New York civil fraud trial, and the other from Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside of his Washington, DC January 6 trial in March — some experts expect him to violate the orders soon. With a history of threatening and verbally attacking others, MSNBC's Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday pointed to the fact the ex-president's rhetoric influenced January 6 rioters who chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!" Noting Trump "gets deeply stimulated and excited by the violence," Wallace asked analyst and ex-Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele what he thinks the MAGA hopeful's "calculation is on whether violating these gag orders lands him in jail is a good thing or bad thing for him." POLL : Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? Steele replied, "You put your finger on two very important words t
Read more