A federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump is not immune from lawsuits relating to the January 6, 2021 Capitol event.
“On appeal, the only question is whether President Trump has demonstrated his entitlement to official-act immunity,” the order reads.
“He argues, as he did in Blassingame, that he is entitled to immunity because his alleged actions amounted to speech on matters of public concern. That argument fails for the reasons explained in Blassingame: ‘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.'”
The order affirms a previous ruling that Trump’s actions were part of his re-election campaign and not a presidential act.
In the December 1 ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote, “In arguing that he is entitled to official-act immunity in the cases before us, President Trump does not dispute that he engaged in his alleged actions up to and on January 6 in his capacity as a candidate. But he thinks that does not matter. Rather, in his view, a president’s speech on matters of public concern is invariably an official function, and he was engaged in that function when he spoke at the January 6 rally and in the leadup to that day.”
“We cannot accept that rationale,” Judge Srinivasan asserted.
“While presidents are often exercising official responsibilities when they speak on matters of public concern, that is not always the case. When a sitting president running for re-election speaks in a campaign ad or in accepting his political party’s nomination at the party convention, he typically speaks on matters of public concern. Yet he does so in an unofficial, private capacity as office-seeker, not an official capacity as office-holder. And actions taken in an unofficial capacity cannot qualify for official-act immunity,” the judge added.
