Judge Emmet Sullivan of the D.C. District Court issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought about by civil rights groups that claim Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 election unfairly discriminated against some voters.
Trump’s lawyers argued the former president cannot be held liable in civil lawsuits because of immunity around the presidency.
Sullivan said Trump’s conduct was not be part of his official duties, thus offering him less legal protection.
“If former President Trump disrupted the certification of the electoral vote count, as plaintiffs allege here, such actions would not constitute executive action in defense of the Constitution,” wrote Sullivan, who was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994.
“For these reasons, the court concludes that former President Trump is not immune from monetary damages in this suit.”
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