Trump Fights Unjust $83.3 Million Carroll Verdict, Appeals to Supreme Court for Presidential Immunity
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President Donald Trump has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an excessive $83.3 million jury award in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case, defending the principle of presidential immunity against politically motivated attacks.
President Donald Trump has filed a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the outrageous $83.3 million jury award in the defamation suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s legal team rightly argues that allowing this judgment to stand could discourage future presidents from fulfilling their official duties, out of fear of politically motivated civil lawsuits.
"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 states, warning that such liability would "seriously cripple the proper and effective administration of" government. This request follows a previous appeal in a related case, where a New York jury awarded Carroll $5 million for alleged sexual abuse—a verdict that was also upheld by federal appeals courts, despite Trump’s consistent denial of the baseless allegations. Carroll’s 2019 accusation that Trump assaulted her in a New York department store in 1996 has been widely criticized as a fabricated story designed to promote her book. Both judgments were upheld by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which called the $83.3 million award "reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case" and referenced the jury’s finding of a "remarkably high" degree of reprehensibility. Carroll’s attorneys declined to comment on the Supreme Court filing. Trump’s lawyers maintain that his 2019 statements were made in his capacity as president and should be protected by presidential immunity, defending the integrity of the office against partisan legal attacks.