WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal court in Washington on Friday paved a path forward for a slate of lawsuits against former President Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, striking down an argument from his legal team that his actions were protected by presidential immunity.
The plaintiffs in the cases, a group of Democratic lawmakers and police officers, have contended that the former president sought to advance his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, during which a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, killing five and injuring more than 100.
Trump’s legal team moved to dismiss the cases, arguing that he can’t be held liable for the riot or its results. His lawyers maintain that Trump's statements during a 75-minute speech on the day of the insurrection were made in his official capacity as president and thus protected by the office’s legal immunity.
Despite those claims, a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Trump could not claim presidential immunity — at least not at this point in the case.
In the court’s view, wrote Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, the president’s campaign to win reelection is not an act of the office that can be shielded by immunity.
“The office of the presidency as an institution is agnostic about who will occupy it next,” wrote Srinivasan, an Obama appointee. “And campaigning to gain that office is not an official act of the office.”
The court’s ruling backs up a similar conclusion made in February by a federal court in Washington, which Trump appealed.
Trump has not disputed that his actions to retake the presidency after the 2020 election were taken in his capacity as a candidate for office, the appeals court found in its unanimous decision, pointing to his efforts to intervene in a Supreme Court election administration case as a candidate, rather than in his official capacity as president.
The panel of judges also poured cold water on the former president’s argument that his Jan. 6 speech was an official act because he gave remarks on “matters of public concern.”
However, the court did not completely slam the door on the possibility that Trump could prove that his conduct is protected by presidential immunity, framing their rejection of the argument as a reflection of the facts made available by the plaintiffs.
“President Trump has not had a chance to counter those allegations with facts of his own,” Srinivasan wrote. “When these cases move forward in the district court, he 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.”
The appeals court also refused to rule on the overall claims against the former president, nor did it address any of Trump’s other defenses, such as a claim that his comments on Jan. 6 are shielded by the First Amendment.
For now, though, the group of cases against Trump, brought by Capitol Police officers as well as California Representative Eric Swalwell and other lawmakers, can move forward — unless the former president looks to appeal Friday’s decision.
U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and the Clinton-appointed Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Judith Rogers, joined Srinivasan on the panel. Katsas wrote a concurring opinion, and Rogers filed an opinion concurring in part.
Trump is already facing a slew of legal challenges related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection, including four federal charges levied against him by the Justice Department. The former president, who has pleaded not guilty, has also claimed presidential immunity in that case.
In Florida, Trump faces a separate set of charges related to reams of classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort, which prosecutors argue were mishandled after the president left office.
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