Latest in Jan. 6: Civil Litigation
A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-to-1 to deny former Arizona Republican State Senator Kelli Ward’s request for an injunction to block the release of her phone records to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Justice Department determined that the closest advisers to presidents do not retain absolute immunity from congressional subpoenas after those presidents leave office.
The Wisconsin voters allege that the defendants orchestrated and executed a plan to pose as lawfully elected Wisconsin presidential electors to send fraudulent certificates in favor of Donald Trump to Congress.
The ruling determined that Trump could be held liable for his conduct in office.
The former president is in a dramatically weaker position than he was before the latest D.C. Circuit opinion.
Despite hours of oral argument, the district court did not signal whether attempts to hold former President Trump and others civilly liable for encouraging the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will succeed.
On Monday, January 10, a federal district court in DC heard oral argument in Thompson v. Trump. The case considers civil claims against Donald Trump and others for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. It raises a number of complicated legal issues, including whether Trump is immune from these kinds of claims, whether it's possible to establish a conspiracy among the perpetrators of the attack, and how the First Amendment factors into all of this.
At 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 30, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments to evaluate whether former President Trump can block the release of documents related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
After my post went live on Oct. 18, two significant developments occurred in the prospects of a contempt prosecution of Steve Bannon.
The House select committee on the Jan. 6 attack has set out to uncover an enormous amount of information with significant obstacles to overcome in the process. With so much to cover in such little time, one committee investigation won't be enough to answer all the unresolved questions.