Chinese Americans Civil Rights Coalition
New York City: We, a group of ordinary citizens with the Chinese Americans Civil Rights Coalition (CACRC), have filed a civil lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY CASE # 1:21-cv-04548) against Mr. Donald J. Trump on the grounds that he has intentionally and repeatedly used defamatory rhetoric targeting against the Chinese Americans community while in his former official capacity and even after he left office, and his defamatory rhetoric has contributed to the significant increase in verbal and physical assaults on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the country.
On Jan. 7, 2022, both the U.S. attorneys (representing Trump due to his former official capacity) and Trump’s personal attorneys (representing Trump as private citizen) filed memorandum of law in support for motions to dismiss. On Jan. 28, we filed memorandum of law in opposition to the motion to dismiss by presenting our rebuttal point by point to both motions.
The US attorneys presented two reasons for dismissal (1) under the so-called sovereign immunity filing a complaint against Trump in his former official capacity is effectively against the United States; and (2) plaintiff failed to follow the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) procedure to file the complaint with a federal agency. We presented the following rebuttals.
- The so-called sovereign immunity doctrine derived from an antiquated premise the “the King can do no wrong”, however the United State is a Republic whose sovereignty belongs to “We the People” not any individual, and a president is NOT a king either.
- The so-called sovereign immunity doctrine not only has no textual basis in the Constitution but also contradicts the basic constitutional principle of “No one is above the law.”
- All federal officials and employees are immune to legal jeopardy as long as their actions are within their official authority and duty. Neither the Constitution nor any federal statues has ever defined spreading unsubstantiated defamatory rhetoric against one particular group of Americans as anyone’s official authority.
- The FTCA permits complaint against negligence or wrongful act occurring within the scope of a federal employee’s official authority and duty. However, Trump’s intentional and repeated use of defamatory rhetoric is not within the scope of the presidency.
Therefore, neither the so-called sovereign immunity doctrine nor the FTCA procedure is applicable in our defamation lawsuit.
It is worth noting that the US attorneys conceded in their motion that “The Government accepts Plaintiff’s factual allegations in the Complaint as true for purposes of this motion“, and declared “the Government has condemned racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living in the United States, including specifically in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic” by citing the presidential memorandum signed by President Biden on Jan. 29, 2021, and the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act passed by Congress with bi-partisan support on May 20, 2021. Clearly both the current administration and both parties in Congress repudiated Trump’s defamatory rhetoric.
Trump’s personal attorneys presented five arguments, which are full of various flaws, such as inconsistency, cherry-picking, willful ignorance, and even outright distortion. Trump’s personal attorneys’ central argument is that “China virus” is not a defamation per se. Trump explained he called “China virus” because “it came from China” and “I want to be accurate.”
We presented to the Court that from late 2019 until today the only accurate statement is “the first outbreak of COVID-19 virus occurred in China.” Trump and his personal attorneys attempted to equate “first appeared/occurred” or “came from” to “originated from.” For example, millions of iPhones sold in America came from China, but no one calls iPhone as “China iPhone or Chinese iPhone” because it is designed by Apple Inc. based in America. From early on until today, the scientific and medical community has repeatedly stated that the exact source of the current outbreak of the COVID-19 virus remains unknown, but this type of virus mostly likely jumped from an animal to human being. (CDC Statements on 07/01/2020, 09/01/2020, 02/10/2021)
Furthermore, on Oct. 29. 2021, the declassified report from American intelligence agencies reiterated that the evidence remains inconclusive on (1) whether the COVID-19 virus jumped from an animal to humans or (2) whether the virus somehow escaped from a lab. The intelligence agencies however have concluded that the virus was not developed as a biological weapon. (NYT 10/29/2021)
The truth matters, words have consequences… especially from those in powerful and influential positions. Authority comes with duty, power comes with responsibility, especially from someone who held the most powerful office in the country. However, the Defendant recklessly neglected his official duty to represent all Americans, and carelessly failed his responsibility to maintain domestic tranquility and general welfare for all communities.
Dr. King reminded us, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Just as the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act protects all Americans from hate crimes, our lawsuit aims to deter defamation targeting any community in the United States of America.
Therefore, Fellow Americans of all communities, let’s unite together against racism and hatred, and join our lawsuit by completing the Online Affidavit.
For the full version of our opposition to the two dismissal motions, please click:
Plaintiff’s Opposition to the US Attorneys’ Motion to Dismiss
Plaintiff’s Opposition to the Trump’s Personal Attorneys’ Motion to Dismiss
Chinese Americans Civil Rights Coalition is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to promote equal civil rights and voting rights regardless of race and ethnicity. For more information, please contact cacrcusa@gmail.com, and follow us at https://twitter.com/CACRCUSA.
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