Supreme Court declines to hear Trump appeal in $5 million Carroll defamation verdict
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review President Donald Trump's request to overturn a jury verdict awarding $5 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation, leaving the judgment in place.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied President Donald Trump’s petition to overturn a jury’s $5 million verdict that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and subsequently defamed her. The justices also rejected several other petitions, a step that is relatively rare in the Court’s history. Trump had paid the judgment after the Court declined to consider his appeal in June.
In addition to the $5 million case, Trump and the Justice Department are seeking to have a separate $83 million verdict dismissed, arguing presidential immunity for statements he made about Carroll in 2019. The high court has not yet ruled on that request.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former television host, testified that Trump turned a friendly encounter at a Manhattan department store into a violent assault in a dressing-room. The jury also found Trump liable for defamation after he denied her allegations in 2022.
"As a result, the jury’s unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court," said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, in a statement.
Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing.