By Jake Kaplan

Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

On Tuesday, the House select committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol held its first hearing. 

• For weeks, there was a lot of drama surrounding which members of the House would serve on the committee. Ultimately, nine Representatives (seven Democrats and two Republicans) were selected to sit on the committee. The Democrats on the committee include chairman Bennie Thompson, Adam Schiff, and Jamie Raskin. The Republicans on the committee are Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Kinzinger to the committee earlier this week, following House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s withdrawal of his nominations, which Pelosi had previously blocked. 
• At the hearing, four police officers gave emotional testimony about the abuse they received from rioters. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn testified to the racism he experienced that day, including when a crowd of people surrounded him screaming, “​​Boo, f****** n*****!” “No one had ever, ever called me a n***** while wearing the uniform of a Capitol Police officer,” Dunn said.
• In her opening remarks, Cheney called on the committee to look into former President Donald Trump’s actions on January 6th, saying, “We cannot leave the violence of Jan. 6 and its causes uninvestigated… We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House. Every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack.”
• According to Thompson, the committee may hold its next hearing sometime in August. Thompson also said the committee, if necessary, will subpoena witnesses, including Trump or members of Congress.  

And, in a court filing, the Department of Justice declined to defend Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama in a civil lawsuit that accuses him of inciting the riot at the Capitol.

• The lawsuit, brought by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell against Brooks, Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani, accuses Trump and company of inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol during speeches at a rally near the Capitol earlier in the day on January 6th. 
• Brooks asked the DOJ to join the lawsuit via the Westfall Act — the law that compels the government to be substituted as the defendant in a civil suit brought against a federal official if the official’s action is within the scope of their duties. 
• In this case, the DOJ concluded, “Inciting or conspiring to foment a violent attack on the United States Congress is not within the scope of employment of a representative — or any federal employee — and thus is not the sort of conduct for which the United States is properly substituted as a defendant under the Westfall Act… Therefore, DOJ will not represent Brooks in the suit.”