A Washington DC federal appeals court found on Friday that former US President Donald Trump is not immune from civil lawsuits for his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. The decision from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit means that three civil lawsuits—from Capitol police officers and members of the US Congress who were present on the day of the riot—against the former president may proceed.
The court found that, while judicial precedent has established immunity for actions taken in the course of the presidency, that precedent has limits. Specifically, the court stated, “The President … does not spend every minute of every day exercising official responsibilities. And when he acts outside the functions of his office, he does not continue to enjoy immunity from damages liability just because he happens to be the President.”
Two congressmen and Capitol police officers initially filed civil lawsuits against Trump in the US District Court of DC to collect damages from the injuries they suffered during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. At the district court level, Trump sought to dismiss all three lawsuits on the grounds of official-act immunity. When the court rejected his immunity claim, Trump appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the DC, which led to Friday’s decision.
Trump claimed in his appeal that his speech at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, was “on a matter of critical public concern, a category of activity well within the outer perimeter of a president’s official action.” The speech was given to a crowd of Trump supporters—many of whom later stormed the Capitol after Trump told them to “fight like hell”—just blocks away from where Congress was convened in a joint session to certify the results of the 2020 US presidential election.
While the court acknowledged that “Presidents are often exercising official responsibilities when they speak on matters of public concern, that is not always the case,” and it was not the case with Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. Rather, the court found that Trump was acting not in his public capacity as the president but as a private citizen campaigning for the presidency. The court said, “When he acts in an unofficial, private capacity, he is subject to civil suits like any private citizen.” This is because “actions taken in an unofficial capacity cannot qualify for official-act immunity,” as Trump claimed.
As part of their decision, the court stated that their decision only stands on the facts provided by the officers and congresspeople who filed the suit. Since Trump appealed an interlocutory order—meaning an order that did not wholly dispense with all of the claims filed in the district court—he has yet to provide his own version of the facts to the district court. As a result, the DC Circuit said, “[Trump] must be afforded the opportunity to develop his own facts on the immunity question if he desires to show that he took the actions alleged in the complaints in his official capacity as President rather than in his unofficial capacity as a candidate.” If he succeeds in doing so, the court said he may move for summary judgment on the grounds of official-act immunity.
Unless Trump appeals to the US Supreme Court and the court decides to take up the matter, the three civil lawsuits against Trump may not proceed at the district court level. The three lawsuits stem from a February 16, 2021 civil complaint from Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), a March 5, 2021 civil complaint from Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and a March 30, 2021 civil complaint from Capitol Police officers Blassingame and Hemby. All three lawsuits blame Trump in some way for the Capitol riot that occurred on January 6, 2021 and seek to hold him accountable for his actions on that day.
