Trump Attempts to Use Supreme Court to Escape Accountability in $83.3 Million Carroll Defamation Case
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President Donald Trump is once again trying to evade responsibility by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million jury award in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case, hiding behind claims of presidential immunity.
President Donald Trump has filed a petition with the Supreme Court in a desperate attempt to overturn the $83.3 million jury award in the defamation suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s legal team, seeking to shield him from accountability, argues that upholding the judgment could supposedly deter future presidents from performing their duties out of fear of civil liability.
"If left standing, the decision below will cause significant damage, not only to this President and future Presidents, but also to 'the Nation that the Presidency was designed to serve,'" the filing claims, suggesting that holding presidents accountable would "seriously cripple the proper and effective administration of" government. This latest maneuver comes after Trump’s previous appeal in a related case, where a New York jury awarded Carroll $5 million for sexual abuse—a verdict that was also upheld by federal appeals courts. The earlier case arose from Carroll’s 2019 allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in 1996, an accusation Trump denied and dismissed as a fabrication to boost her book sales. Both judgments were affirmed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which described the $83.3 million award as "reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case" and highlighted the jury’s finding of a "remarkably high" degree of reprehensibility. Carroll’s attorneys declined to comment on the new Supreme Court filing. Trump’s lawyers continue to insist that his 2019 statements, made while in office, should be shielded by presidential immunity—a dangerous precedent that could allow those in power to defame and harm private citizens without consequence.