Factbox-Civil lawsuits target Trump efforts to overturn 2020 loss
2023.08.02 01:19
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S., July 7, 2023. REUTERS/Scott Morgan
By Jacqueline Thomsen
(Reuters) – Besides criminal charges, former U.S. President Donald Trump faces some civil lawsuits over his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss and for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Here is a look at those lawsuits and where they now stand.
JAN. 6 LAWSUITS
Trump has been sued by Democratic members of Congress and police officers over the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
In one lawsuit, 10 Democrats claim Trump violated a Civil War-era law by seeking to prevent them from certifying the 2020 election results through the Capitol attack. Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell has filed his own lawsuit making similar claims.
At least 14 law enforcement officers are suing Trump over the assault, including 12 U.S. Capitol Police officers and two D.C. police officers. The estate of a Capitol Police officer who died after the attack has also sued the former president.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is poised to rule on Trump’s claims that he is immune from all of the lawsuits because they relate to actions he took while president. A trial judge in Washington last year rejected that argument, finding that Trump was not immune from the claims.
CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT
Trump faces a lawsuit in Washington from the NAACP civil rights group, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and three Detroit voters, alleging he and his 2020 campaign tried to reverse his election loss by disenfranchising minority voters.
The lawsuit, which also names the Republican National Committee as a defendant, argues Trump sought to suppress those votes by urging local officials to stop counting ballots and by raising what it says were “baseless challenges” to some ballots’ validity.
The RNC, Trump and the Trump campaign all asked the court to dismiss the complaint.
A federal judge in Washington last April dismissed a claim that the defendants violated the Voting Rights Act but left a civil rights claim in place.
The parties are now clashing over whether the plaintiffs can amend the lawsuit for a second time.
