![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/2cfca035a8825e6cef03ed76b3a14f3e99d0c760\/0_86_2456_1473\/master\/2456.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=abe7d8d9f76a1c6a3059ab831718936c\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cSpeaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the presidency,\u201d read the 32-page brief to the US court of appeals for the DC circuit. \u201cBut that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include incitement of imminent private violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The justice department stressed that it was not weighing in on whether the lawsuit had made a plausible argument that Trump\u2019s speech immediately before the January 6 attack incited thousands of his supporters to storm the Capitol in an effort to stop certification of Joe Biden\u2019s election win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the department said that because actual incitement of imminent private violence \u2013 the key legal standard \u2013 would not be protected by presidential immunity, the appeals court should reject his contention that he had absolute immunity from civil litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo part of a president\u2019s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence,\u201d the brief said. \u201cBy definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the president\u2019s constitutional and statutory duties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The justice department opinion comes after the appeals court asked the government to offer its position while it considered whether Trump was acting within the confines of the office of the presidency when he urged his supporters to \u201cfight like hell\u201d and march on the Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sensitivity of the case \u2013 the potential impact on other civil suits against Trump that could have implications for presidential immunity \u2013 meant the department took several months and made two requests for a month\u2019s extension before finalising its response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In siding against Trump\u2019s position that he enjoyed \u201ccategorical immunity\u201d, the justice department said it agreed with a lower-court ruling that the first amendment to the constitution did not allow Trump to evade liability in the January 6 suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit was filed under a statute, enacted after the civil war in response to Ku Klux Klan insurrections across the south to stop Black people voting, which allows for damages when force or intimidation are used to prevent government officials carrying out their duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The amicus brief comes as the justice department controversially continues to defend Trump\u2019s claim of absolute immunity in a defamation case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll, who accuses Trump of raping her in New York in the mid-1990s. Trump has said \u201cit never happened\u201d and said Carroll is not his \u201ctype\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding to that case, the department argued that while Trump\u2019s comments were not appropriate, they came when he was president. Responding to a reporter\u2019s question about the allegation, the department said part of a president\u2019s responsibility was \u201cto be responsive to the media and public\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Donald Trump does not have absolute immunity from civil suits seeking damages over his alleged incitement of the January 6 Capitol attack, the US justice department said in a court filing that could have profound implications for complaints against the former president. In an amicus brief in a case brought by two US Capitol police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":29982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5304,5178,6573,9649,5126,7960,10327,10507,10933,6576,9977,911,2264,1444,9507,2471,10419,7956,8658,990,11973,421,7574,3805,11377,10041,7972,184,6348,11196,5251,594,12347],"class_list":["post-29981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-attack","tag-biden","tag-black","tag-capitol","tag-carroll","tag-case","tag-civil-war","tag-court","tag-defamation","tag-democrats","tag-e-jean-carroll","tag-election","tag-government","tag-hell","tag-immunity","tag-joe-biden","tag-justice","tag-justice-department","tag-ku-klux-klan","tag-new-york","tag-one","tag-police","tag-presidency","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-speech","tag-storm","tag-united-states-president-donald-john-trump-jr","tag-us","tag-us-court","tag-war","tag-who","tag-writer"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}