US Supreme Court again rejects Trump's bid to overturn $5mn E Jean Carroll verdict
The US Supreme Court again rejected Donald Trump's attempt to overturn a civil verdict. A jury had previously found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll. This decision leaves a $5 million judgment in place, which Trump has now paid. Another separate $83.3 million verdict against Trump is still pending before the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the US Supreme Court once again denied President Donald Trump's effort to overturn a $5 million civil verdict awarded to writer E Jean Carroll. The court affirmed a jury's determination that Trump had sexually abused and defamed Carroll. The justices did not provide a reason for their decision, which came after their June ruling declining to hear his appeal of the 2023 verdict. The Supreme Court usually only agrees to rehear cases when they have initially declined to take them up.
Trump's legal team had contended that the trial was unfair and requested the court to reconsider its earlier decision. Carroll, who is a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, accused Trump of sexual assault in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. She made these allegations public in 2019. Trump has consistently denied Carroll's claims.
The case centered around Trump's statements in 2022, where he called Carroll's allegation a "hoax" and a "con job" on social media. A 2023 jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, but did not find him guilty of rape, as Carroll had alleged. Following the Supreme Court's decision in June, Trump paid close to $5.63 million, which included the original $5 million judgment and interest, according to Reuters.
Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court's decision. She stated that "we are pleased that the United States Supreme Court has declined again to hear this case. 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."
Meanwhile, Trump still has another appeal before the Supreme Court regarding a $83.3 million verdict over statements he made about Carroll in 2019 when he was president. Trump and the Justice Department argue that presidential immunity protects him from this defamation lawsuit. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether to hear this appeal.
These two Carroll cases are civil lawsuits, separate from the Supreme Court's 2024 landmark ruling on presidential immunity in criminal cases.
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