Two weeks after losing an attempt to avoid paying $5 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation, former President Trump has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to her. Both judgments arose from civil federal trials held in 2023 and 2024.
In the first trial, a jury found that evidence supported Mr. Trump’s liability for sexually abusing Carroll during an encounter in the 1990s, and for defaming her after she went public with the allegations in 2019. In the second trial, Mr. Trump faced liability for various denials made during his presidency, where he described Carroll with derogatory terms and insisted he never met her. His repeated denials in public and on social media were highlighted by Carroll’s attorneys.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked the jury to award Carroll enough to “make him stop” defaming her client.
Despite the court ruling against him, Mr. Trump continues to deny these allegations. His legal team argues that an appeals panel incorrectly failed to address whether Mr. Trump had presidential immunity when making his statements. In their filing, they stated, “This is the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office.”
The Justice Department, under the leadership of Todd Blanche, a former attorney for Mr. Trump, backs the request for Supreme Court review. The department contends that Mr. Trump is protected under the Westfall Act, as his statements were made while functioning as a federal employee. They assert he responded from the White House to press allegations questioning his fitness for office.
Carroll testified about a 1996 incident at a Manhattan department store, claiming Mr. Trump assaulted her in a dressing room, which he denies. His attempts to overturn the verdicts have been unsuccessful in lower courts. Additionally, he has sought the Supreme Court’s reconsideration of their decision not to review his appeal of the $5 million case. In that matter, Carroll received a total of $5.6 million, including interest. The interest accumulated on the $83.3 million judgment, held in a court account since 2024, remains unspecified.
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