Three lawsuits brought against Trump for his hand in the Jan. 6, 2021, melee has remained stalled in a federal appeals court.
“I am surprised how long it’s taking," Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told Politico for a Monday report.
Swalwell filed one of the three lawsuits just months after mobs stormed the Capital Building to stall the certification of Biden's victory over the incumbent 45th president. "The delay does seem unusual, but I’m hopeful we’ll get a decision."
“It seems like it’s extraordinarily long, even for the D.C. Circuit,” University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told Politico.
The appeals court put the three lawsuits on the calendar last year — brought by both Capitol Police officers and members of Congress blaming former President Donald Trump of sowing aggression in the crowd that led to the violence that compromised the safety of officers tasked with guarding the hallowed edifice.
One of the civil lawsuit was filed by U.S. Capitol Police Officer Briana Kirkland on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Kirkland claimed she was outnumbered 450 to 1 that day while she and her fellow officers tried to seal the Capitol doors and suffered a traumatic brain injury after the Trump-incited mob breached the building.
The lawsuit contends that Trump "directed the mob" that attacked the Capitol building resulting in her being "assaulted and battered."
The fact that the D.C. Circuit Court had let the three suits remain stagnant since last December, when oral arguments were made, is rare.
The three-judge panel, made up of Obama-appointed Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, Clinton appointee Judith Rogers and Trump appointee Gregory Katsas, heard oral arguments on Dec. 7, 2022.
Four months later, the Justice Department supplied information on their request.
But since then, nothing has transpired in terms of a ruling, for a court that usually decides cases within four months of oral arguments, according to Politico.
The judges are attempting to rule on whether or not the former president can be held liable for delivering his speech to a riled crowd back on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump, who remains the dominant GOP leader in the race for the presidential nomination for 2024, is facing criminal charges for committing subversion in the wake of the 2020 election results.
Last year, Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trump’s remarks on that fateful day left him open to be sued.
“To deny a President immunity from civil damages is no small step,” wrote Mehta. “The court well understands the gravity of its decision. But the alleged facts of this case are without precedent, and the court believes that its decision is consistent with the purposes behind such immunity.”
Trump filed an appeal and the case has remained idle ever since.
