Donald Trump plans to appeal to the Supreme Court to hear his claim presidential immunity His lawyers said in court on Monday that they should protect him from civil lawsuits related to the January 6 riots.
A federal appeals court ruled last month former president He did not have automatic immunity from a civil suit seeking to hold him liable for the “physical and emotional injuries” suffered by two U.S. Capitol police officers during the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Trump’s filing on Monday asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the U.S. Circuit in Washington to wait before sending the case down to a lower court to give him time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The complaint asked the court to wait until February 15, and the plaintiffs agreed to the delay.
“This is a question of extraordinary law — the question of the president’s absolute immunity from civil liability for the actions of a former president during his term of office — pending before this case and several other cases surrounding the same question. can be solved by law,” he said.
Trump has argued that any actions he took on Jan. 6 fell within his duties as president, thereby giving him immunity from civil liability. An appeals court dismissed that claim, ruling that his actions were taken as an unofficial candidate, but left the door open to proving otherwise in court if the case goes forward.
Monday’s motion came a day before Trump’s lawyers argued before the same appeals court in Washington that presidential immunity should protect him from criminal prosecution in the case of special counsel Jack Smith, who is accused of trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election. . Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in this case, considers himself guilty is expected to participate arguments in person.
Trump has also tried to use presidential immunity to protect a civil suit filed against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, who will be tried next week.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected the offer last month, it found Trump waited too long — three years — to raise defenses in the defamation case.
Trump later asked the entire court to rehear the case, a request the 2nd Circuit denied on Monday.