The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department put a clear limit on Donald Trump’s immunity claim in a March 2 filing that is still echoing through the Jan. 6 civil cases. In a brief to the D.C. Circuit, government lawyers said Trump is not entitled to absolute immunity from lawsuits seeking to hold him responsible for the Capitol attack. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/d18d0c6369837c725578cf6e13c18883?utm_source=openai))

The filing matters because it draws a line between presidential duties and conduct the government says was political, not official. The brief argued that the civil claims focus on Trump’s words and conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, including allegations that he helped incite private violence, and said that is not the kind of activity that automatically wipes out liability just because he once held office. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/d18d0c6369837c725578cf6e13c18883?utm_source=openai))

That is the core of Trump’s fight in the Jan. 6 litigation: he has tried to treat the presidency as a kind of all-purpose shield, while plaintiffs and now the Justice Department argue that the protection is narrower than that. The question is not whether Trump was president when he spoke or acted. It is whether the conduct at issue was actually part of his official job, and the government’s answer in this case was no. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/d18d0c6369837c725578cf6e13c18883?utm_source=openai))

No new March 6 ruling was identified in the primary material behind this report. The legal development here is the March 2 filing itself, which was another sign that Trump’s immunity argument was facing resistance in the civil cases tied to Jan. 6. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/d18d0c6369837c725578cf6e13c18883?utm_source=openai))