Donald Trump is a master of delaying lawsuits. Using constant appeals, deep pockets, and a seemingly unending supply of D-grade attorneys, Trump has frequently been able to simply outlast opponents in a lawsuit by wearing them out both emotionally and financially. Writer E. Jean Carroll’s recent victories represent the rare instance in which someone had the persistence and toughness to withstand all of Trump’s efforts to completely dodge responsibility for his actions.
But sometimes Trump’s “appeal, appeal, and appeal again” strategy doesn’t need much help. That’s the case with a trio of lawsuits filed by the Capitol Police and by members of Congress alleging that Trump was responsible for inciting violence on Jan. 6, 2021, that have now been gathering dust at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for a year. Allowing those lawsuits to proceed hangs on the thorny legal question of whether or not Trump’s speech encouraging his supporters to interfere with the 2020 election is protected by presidential immunity. D.C. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the case could proceed in February 2022. Trump immediately appealed … and that’s where things still sit.
This delay is holding up hearings on these lawsuits. It also means the court is providing no answers to questions about Trump’s liability for his followers’ threats and violence. A decision in this case could affect other rulings, such as multiple cases concerning gag orders where threats made against prosecutors and court officials by Trump supporters are a key factor. But the D.C. Appeals Court has already allowed this case to linger for a ridiculously long time.
As Politico reports, cases usually move through the D.C. Court of Appeals in around four months—a number supported by statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. But Trump’s appeal has been sitting with the judges since last December. A law professor questioned about the case called the delay “extraordinarily long, even for the D.C. Circuit.” The slow movement even drew a mention during the E. Jean Carroll case where an attorney pointed out how long judges had delayed ruling on Trump’s immunity.
Oral arguments on the case were held before a three-judge panel on Dec. 7, 2022. In March 2022, the judges sought additional opinions from the Justice Department on questions of presidential immunity. Since then … nothing. No rulings, and no obvious effort to solicit information from anyone else outside the court.
Meanwhile, Trump’s attorneys are in front of an appeals court in New York claiming he’s not responsible for threats made by his supporters in that case. Dozens of acts of violence have been tied to Trump’s supporters for years, but Trump continues to evade responsibility. It’s a lesson that’s been learned by other Republicans, who are now emulating Trump’s language and mimicking his use of threats and insults.
Of the three judges who have spent a year pondering the question of Trump’s immunity, only one is a Trump appointee. The others were appointed by President Obama or President Clinton. Why they have continued to sit on this case without making a decision is unclear.
These lawsuits were originally filed in 2021, just weeks after the events of Jan. 6. Trump appealed. It took until February 2022 for the district court to rule the lawsuits could proceed. Trump appealed again. It wasn’t until December 2022 that the case was finally heard, and nothing has moved since then.
These lawsuits are now approaching their third birthday. Even if the appeals court were to rule tomorrow, there’s no doubt that any decision would be immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. And should this ruling ever make it back down to the district court, allowing the lawsuits to proceed, it’s certain that Trump will appeal on some other grounds.
The lawsuit that E. Jean Carroll won in March 2023 was originally filed in November 2019 and had to survive intervention from the Department of Justice, which offered to take over Trump’s defense and argued that denying a rape charge was an official act.
It took a long time to bring even a sliver of justice in the Carroll case. But it may be much longer before any judge has a chance to rule on the cases filed against Trump following Jan. 6.
Campaign Action