A federal appeals court rejected Donald Trump’s use of presidential immunity in a bid to dismiss a civil defamation lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The judges found that Trump waived using presidential immunity as a defense by not raising it earlier in the litigation over Carroll’s claim that Trump defamed her when, as president, he denied her allegations of sexual assault. The appeals court also affirmed the lower court’s ruling that rejected Trump’s motion for summary judgement.

“This case presents a vexing question of first impression: whether presidential immunity is waivable. We answer in the affirmative and further hold that Donald J. Trump (‘Defendant’) waived the defense of presidential immunity by failing to raise it as an affirmative defense in his answer to E. Jean Carroll’s (‘Plaintiff’s’) complaint, which alleged that Defendant defamed her by claiming that she had fabricated her account of Defendant sexually assaulting her in the mid1990s.,” the court ruled.

  • gregorum
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    16810 months ago

    Trump is single-handedly defining the legal limits of presidential assholery.

    • @0110010001100010
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      12710 months ago

      Which would be fantastic, if it weren’t for the fact that he has a very real shot at returning to the white house and making this all a moot point.

      I still can’t believe so many people don’t see him for the criminal, con-man, grifter, anti-christ, etc that he is.

      • @MotoAsh
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        10 months ago

        I still cannot believe that people are so shocked to find out so much of the country have been brainwashed to be hateful bigots, ready to yell at their neighbor for wearing a rainbow shirt before they’ll yell at Raytheon et. al. for profiting from the few literal genocides the US has weapons going to right now.

        There ARE terrible people in the world, and laws don’t magically put them behind bars.

      • @paddirn
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        10 months ago

        He’s the literal embodiment of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, yet christians would disown family for the chance at sucking him off. It feels like we’ve crossed over into Bizarro world.

        • @[email protected]
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          1410 months ago

          A lot of Christians see him as the anti-christ, but that means Jesus is comin’ round the mountain!

          “Jesus is going to come at the end of days (according to a book I tell people I read) so if I cause the end of days Jesus is going to show up and save me from it!”

          • @Fredselfish
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            1210 months ago

            That what my dad says. He is excited about Trump doing all the bad stuff. He is such a miserable bastard that wants the world to end.

          • @I_Fart_Glitter
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            910 months ago

            Same reason they’re so giddy about the current genocide in Palestine. Gun toting, blue eyed Jesus is a-comin back yall!

            • @nomous
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              310 months ago

              These people are real and terrifying and lot of them are in positions of power. They very much seek to rebuild Temple Mount where al-Aqsa currently stands; they believe it has to happen for Jesus to return and they’re actively doing everything in their power to help it along. They’re fundamentalists and every bit as dangerous as any terrorist or demagogue.

          • @pete_the_cat
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            10 months ago

            Will he be ridin’ six white horses?

      • F_Haxhausen
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        1410 months ago

        I can believe it. Easily. No problem at all.

        • @QuarterSwede
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          910 months ago

          You must have worked with customers/the public.

      • @isthingoneventhis
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        1110 months ago

        He’s basically our “generations” Nixon at this point it seems.

      • Alien Nathan Edward
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        710 months ago

        I still can’t believe so many people don’t see him for the criminal, con-man, grifter, anti-christ, etc that he is.

        you don’t have to make sense of it. they’re all lying. they know what he is and don’t care, because he’ll let them hurt who they want to hurt.

      • @Illuminostro
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        210 months ago

        They do. They don’t care. Half the population loves this Jerry Springer bullshit.

    • FlashMobOfOne
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      -2210 months ago

      How so?

      There haven’t been any real consequences for anything he’s done, unless you count a mugshot.

      And, thanks to Biden just ignoring the poor and middle class, he stands a very real chance of reelection.

  • @hdnsmbt
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    6210 months ago

    “You see, your honor, when I raped this woman it was an official function of the president of the United States! Obviously, presidential immunity must apply!”

  • @carl_dungeon
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    10 months ago

    Yeah sure drumpf raped a bunch of women, but let’s impeach biden because his son is related to him.

    • @rayyy
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      110 months ago

      raped a bunch of women

      …and a few minors (children), along the way

  • @reddig33
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    3910 months ago

    There is no such thing as “presidential immunity”.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      “I’M SAYING THAT WHEN THE PRESIDENT DOES IT, IT’S NOT ILLEGAL!!” - Some guy named Nixon

  • @_wizard
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    1310 months ago

    I’m no lawyer so I could be way off base, but does this set the groundwork for some kind of precedent?

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      In May 1997 the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Bill Clinton’s claim that the Constitution immunized him from civil lawsuits”

      Isn’t that already a precedent?

      • El Barto
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        1210 months ago

        Roe vs Wade was a precedent.

      • Bakkoda
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        1210 months ago

        With the current supreme Court? Who the hell knows.

    • @ajoebyanyothername
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      510 months ago

      Also no lawyer, but my understanding is that it doesn’t. The appeals court hasn’t ruled that presidential immunity wouldn’t be a valid defence, but rather that Trump should have brought it up earlier if he wanted to use it.

    • @[email protected]
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      410 months ago

      Courts often take the most narrow view possible to answer the question. This is an example of that. The only question answered is “Can a president raise the issue of immunity at this stage in the trial”, with the answer being “no”. They didn’t comment on if presidential immunity is valid in this situation. The only precedent set is that presidential immunity must be brought up at te start of litigation.