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DOJ declines to back Mo Brooks's defense against Swalwell's Capitol riot lawsuit
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday declined to back a Republican lawmaker's legal defense against a lawsuit accusing him of helping to foment the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
DOJ lawyers said in a court filing that they were declining to certify Rep. Mo Brooks's (R-Ala.) claim that he was acting within the scope of his official duties as a member of Congress when he delivered a speech to Trump supporters at the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally.
"The record indicates that Brooks’s appearance at the January 6 rally was campaign activity, and it is no part of the business of the United States to pick sides among candidates in federal elections," the filing reads.
Brooks has argued that his conduct at the center of the case falls squarely within his scope of official employment and is thus legally protected from such civil suits.
"In sum and substance, Brooks drafted, practiced and gave his Ellipse Rally Speech at the request of the White House and pursuant to Brooks’ duties and job as a congressman concerning presidential election dispute resolution obligations imposed on Congress by the U.S. Constitution," Brooks wrote in a court filing earlier this month.
The lawsuit was filed earlier this year by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) against Brooks, former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani, accusing them of inciting the riot that overran the Capitol.
Had the DOJ agreed with Brooks and convinced a court that he was acting within his official duties, the Alabama Republican would have effectively been immune from the lawsuit.
Trump critics had worried in the weeks leading up to the DOJ's Tuesday deadline that the department would endorse Brooks's argument and insulate him from accountability for what they see as incitement.
But in a 30-page filing Tuesday night, the DOJ roundly rejected Brooks's arguments.
"Indeed, although the scope of employment related to the duties of a Member of Congress is undoubtedly broad and there are some activities that cannot be neatly cleaved into official and personal categories, Brooks’s request for certification and substitution of the United States for campaign-related conduct appears to be unprecedented," the filing reads. "And in a variety of contexts involving state and local elected officials, courts have routinely rejected claims that campaigning and electioneering activities fall within the scope of official employment."
One section of the legal brief has a heading that reads, "Instigating an attack on the United States Capitol would not be within the scope of a Member of Congress’s employment."
A spokesman for Brooks did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
I feel like I am watching the destruction of our democracy while my neighbors and friends cheer it on
How about: get the shot, go back to normal. Don’t get the shot: take your chances. This new round of mitigation is absurd. Let the anti-vax crowd weed themselves out. And the FDA can jump in any time and fully approve the vaccines. THEN employers can start mandating vaccines as a condition of employment if they wish.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. WTF? We’ve gone full retard. Start learning Chinese.
How about: get the shot, go back to normal. Don’t get the shot: take your chances.
This. 100%.
I'm back to normal. Until the someone like The Chairman and his centuries of wisdom and love of authoritarian-we-know-what's-best-for-you government steps in. For now, I can't wait to get back to Ohio Stadium and watch OSU play Oregon in front of 108,000 people.
You can get Covid intentionally through an inoculating jab or unintentionally.
And to reiterate yesterday's small point -- the biggest problems are going to be in urban areas.
Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]? Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.
Do you believe the same about a woman's right to choose?
If not, STFU
Want to get back to normal?
Choose to get the shot.
My life is back to normal because unlike you and your ilk I don't live in fucking fear of a virus with a ridiculously low death rate. Also I am a Libertarian so although I'm morally opposed to abortion I also don't believe the government has the right to tell anyone what to do with their body.
So unlike you I am not a hypocrite. You are fine with my body my choice when it comes to abortion...where there is a 100% chance of a living being...being killed...yet I don't have the right to refuse a vaccine that has yet to be fully approved for a virus that has a 99.6% survivability rate.
This Covid thing has done a lot of the same for me, when it comes to my personal freedom (freedumbs to CGVT) and liberty. And Wiz sums it up well when he describes how the left is looking at this thing.
They're all for personal freedom and liberty when it comes to terminating a pre-born human life because the baby is inconvenient and/or unwanted. But, if a person objects to being injected with a vaccine that works/doesn't work, (depending on the politics of the day), then that person needs to be ostracized, lose their job, and be treated like lepers were in ancient times.
I have no problem with folks who choose to forgo vaccination. I feel like I've taken care of that concern by getting the vaccination myself. And I have no idea why as a fully vaccinated person that I'd need to go into a mask again. I didn't fully understand it BEFORE I got the jab, but whatever.
To me, its almost like wearing a seat belt when I drive. I wear one in my car to protect me in case I get in a wreck. If the idiot that hits me isn't wearing a seat belt, what is that to me? He's the one that's going to regret his decision, not me.
Fully vaccinated people are still contracting Covid. Natural antibodies against Covid are more effective than the vax. I had Covid last November. For me to get the vax is like taking a flu shot after having the flu. Ridiculous. The left is drunk with Covid power. Plain. Simple.
I'm going to take a bike ride......unmasked. Fuck the pandemic.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.
It will never be over for the left. A new scare will always be on the horizon that will require new shutdowns, a new mask mandate, and a new vaccine. The Left has absolutely no intention of letting you ever get back to normal and it has been that way since “15 days to flatten the curve”
It will never be over for the left. A new scare will always be on the horizon that will require new shutdowns, a new mask mandate, and a new vaccine. The Left has absolutely no intention of letting you ever get back to normal and it has been that way since “15 days to flatten the curve”
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