A District Judge Just Gave DOJ a Precise Rationale for Prosecuting Trump
Last week, the federal district court for the District of Columbia broke new ground in the law of the presidency. It ruled for the first time in the country’s history that a former commander-in-chief may be held liable in a civil lawsuit for the harm caused by his conduct while he served.
In Thompson v. Trump, Judge Amit Mehta rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss three consolidated lawsuits brought by 11 Congressional representatives and two Capitol policemen to hold Trump to account for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The suit alleges that Trump and Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members violated 42 U.S.C. § 1985(1), part of the Reconstruction-era’s “Ku Klux Klan Act.” It, in the court’s words, “aimed at eliminating extralegal violence committed by white supremacist and vigilante groups like the … Klan and protecting … federal officials … against conspiratorial acts directed at preventing them from performing their duties.”
The decision means that the plaintiffs may proceed to discovery against Trump unless a higher court intervenes to stay such discovery.
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