Former President Donald Trump asserted “absolute immunity” to shield him from civil lawsuits over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
In a July 27 filing (pdf), Trump’s attorneys Jesse Binnall and Molly McCann urged a federal appeals court in Washington to entirely dismiss the former commander-in-chief as a defendant in civil suits linked to the Capitol incident in early 2021, citing presidential immunity.
“This appeal requires the adjudication of a simple but important constitutional issue regarding the separation of powers: whether the scope of the presidential absolute immunity continues to reach the outer perimeters of presidential responsibilities or whether the immunity can be undercut if the presidential act in question is unpopular among the judiciary,” said the preliminary statement to the court….