Justice Department pushes back on Trump's sweeping claims of presidential immunity for January 6 [View all]

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Source: CNN Politics

CNN — The Justice Department on Thursday urged an appeals court to reject sweeping claims of presidential immunity put forward by former President Donald Trump in the civil litigation surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

The department told the appeals court – which is considering several private lawsuits brought against Trump for his conduct in the lead-up to the attack on the Capitol – that a president can’t be absolutely immune for speech on a matter of public concern if the speech is found to have incited violence.

“No part of a president’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence,” the Justice Department said in a friend-of-a-court brief that the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals asked the government to file.

Thursday’s brief marks the first time the department has confronted directly the question of Trump’s civil immunity for his conduct related to January 6. The lawsuits were brought by Democratic members of the House and Capitol Police officers. A 1982 ruling from the US Supreme Court established that presidents are absolutely immune from civil damages arising from their official acts as president – but when presidential speech amounts to an official act is still a murky question for the courts.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/politics/donald-trump-justice-department-january-6

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Full headline: Justice Department pushes back on Trump's sweeping claims of presidential immunity for January 6 speech

Article updated.

Original article -

CNN -- The Justice Department on Thursday urged an appeals court to reject sweeping claims of presidential immunity put forward by former President Donald Trump in the civil litigation surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

The department told the appeals court - which is considering several private lawsuits brought against Trump for his conduct in the lead-up to the attack on the Capitol - that a president can't be absolutely immune for speech on a matter of public concern if the speech is found to have incited violence.

"No part of a president's official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence," the Justice Department said in a friend-of-a-court brief that the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals asked the government to file. Thursday's brief marks the first time the department has confronted directly the question of Trump's civil immunity for his conduct related to January 6. The lawsuits were brought by Democratic members of the House and Capitol Police officers.

The Justice Department did caution the court against using the January 6 civil cases as a vehicle to draw firm lines on whether president can face liability for speech related to electoral or political concerns. Instead, the department asked the DC Circuit to issue a "narrow" ruling, focused solely on the assertion by Trump's attorneys that he should be immune to civil lawsuits for presidential speech even if that speech incited violence.