WASHINGTON: A US appeals court ruled on Friday that Donald Trump must face civil lawsuits over his role in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters, rejecting the former president’s claim that he is immune.

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia found that Trump was acting “in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate” when he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol on the day of the riot. US presidents are immune from civil lawsuits only for official actions.

The ruling clears the way for Trump to face lawsuits from US Capitol police officers and Demo­cra­tic lawmakers seeking to hold Trump responsible for the violence by his supporters during the riot, which was an attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The case is one of several civil and criminal challen­ges facing the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Demo­cratic President Joe Biden in next year’s election.

The unanimous decision focused only on whether Trump could be sued, and said nothing about the merits of the cases themselves.

Trump argued that his speech exhorting his followers to “fight like hell” against certification of the election was related to a “matter of public concern” and fell within his official responsibilities.

A Trump spokesperson on Friday called the ruling “limited, narrow and procedural” and said Trump was “acting on behalf of the American people” on the day of the attack.

Trump has made a similar immunity argument in the federal criminal case accusing him of illegally conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A judge has not yet ruled on the issue in that case.

While the ruling on Friday explicitly stated it was not weighing in on Trump’s possible criminal immunity, both cases involve Trump’s conduct before and during the Capitol riot.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2023