This is not Donald Trump’s week in court. As a matter of fact, the only good thing that can be said about this week, and I’m sure people are saying it to him this very minute, as they grind valium into his Diet Coke, is “Donald, it’s Friday. The week is over, the courts are closed on the weekend. No more judges can inflict injury on you until at least Monday.” Cold comfort, I know, but Trump will have to learn to find joy where he can, just like the rest of us.
A federal judge ruled today that Trump cannot use the doctrine of immunity to evade lawsuits filed against him for his actions on January 6. The Hill:
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta issued a 112-page opinion rejecting the former president’s arguments that he has absolute immunity from the lawsuits because they concern his conduct while in office. But Mehta, an Obama appointee, said he was trying to strike a careful balance in respecting the legal shield afforded to sitting presidents’ official acts.
“To deny a President immunity from civil damages is no small step,” Mehta wrote. “The court well understands the gravity of its decision. But the alleged facts of this case are without precedent, and the court believes that its decision is consistent with the purposes behind such immunity.”
Mehta ruled that Trump could be sued for helping to incite the riot at the Capitol last year, because his efforts to undermine the 2020 election results, including his speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally just before the Capitol was breached, could not be considered official acts.
“After all, the President’s actions here do not relate to his duties of faithfully executing the laws, conducting foreign affairs, commanding the armed forces, or managing the Executive Branch,” Mehta wrote. “They entirely concern his efforts to remain in office for a second term. These are unofficial acts, so the separation-of-powers concerns that justify the President’s broad immunity are not present here.”
Just exactly what Trump needed is more lawsuits, right? He doesn’t have enough to worry about.
I admit I never have known how the saga of Donald Trump would end, but maybe he’ll just be buried in legal paperwork. Maybe he’ll have so much coming at him legally at any given moment that his life becomes litigation purgatory, where he never gets out of court. Who knows? But we’re about to find out.
You have to admit it seems just desserts for someone who reveled how he buried others in litigation is suddenly being buried in litigation. May he drown in it.
This is true He always bottled somebody up in court and made it easier for them to stand down than to stay in the case. Now he’s battling the United States government, among other entities, and they can afford to go for the principle of the thing. As a matter of fact, that’s preferable.
I love the reasoning the judge states, that these are not official actions, but outside the scope of his office. I have always felt that way and it’s good to get a judge to lay that out for him. Even if he will never acknowledge it.