Former United States Donald Trump is once again claiming "absolute immunity" in all of the civil lawsuits that he is involved with that pertain to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
The Republican businessman's preliminary statement to the court has already been released and it is where the former president's legal team dismisses the possibility of civil suits against Trump entirely, citing presidential immunity.
Trump's Presidential Immunity
In a statement, the former president's legal team said that the appeal requires the adjudication of a simple but important constitutional issue regarding the separation of powers. It also questions whether or not the scope of presidential immunity continues to reach the outer perimeters of presidential responsibilities or whether it can be undercut.
They continued to say that this question was answered by the Supreme Court, which held that the immunity is rooted in the constitutional separation of powers. They argued that it was especially important to the former president because he deals with matters that are controversial and arouse intense feelings, as per Fox News.
Furthermore, the Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the actions and correspondence of Trump in its investigation of his inner circle's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In the former president's preliminary statement, he claims that a judiciary review of "executive function" would set a poor precedent for the future, allowing the three branches of government to interfere and meddle with one another on ideological grounds.
According to NBC News, the situation comes as the House Select Committee continues to examine Trump's roles in the assault on the Capitol. Trump's legal team continues to try and shield him from civil lawsuits filed by Democratic members of Congress and two U.S. Capitol Police officers who said they were injured during the insurrection.
Overturning the 2020 Elections
In February, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta pared back some of those claims but declined to dismiss all of them. He ruled that Trump was not immune from civil lawsuits and that he was acting as a candidate, not performing one of the duties of his office, when he spoke at a rally before the riot.
Trump's lawyers, in a legal brief filed this week, urged that the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia find that the judge wrongly concluded that courts should look at the contents of a president's remarks when they decide whether immunity applies.
They said that examining the contents of a tweet or speech constitutes an intrusion on the executive. The lawyers heavily relied on a 1982 decision by the Supreme Court which tossed out a lawsuit filed against former President Richard Nixon by ruling that presidents are immune from lawsuits over even actions at the "outer perimeter" of their official duties.
Trump faces multiple civil suits stemming from his effort to overturn the 2020 elections, which claim in part that the former president violated the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act. It is a civil rights law that prohibits conspiracies against the federal government or depriving people of their rights, The Hill reported.
Related Article: Donald Trump Returns to Washington for the First Time Since Defeat as SCOTUS Prepares Expected 2024 Election Campaign
