The United States Supreme Court has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s appeal for the second time in a case involving a $5 million US verdict in favor of E. Jean Carroll. The jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the former magazine columnist. Trump’s lawyers argued that the trial was unfair, but the justices declined to reconsider their previous decision in June regarding the 2023 jury verdict stemming from allegations that Trump raped Carroll in the 1990s.
In a separate case, Trump is also appealing an $83.3 million US jury verdict for defaming Carroll during his first term as president. His lawyers claim that presidential immunity protects him from Carroll’s claims and argue that lower courts wrongly determined that he had forfeited that defense.
The legal battle between Trump and Carroll began in 2019 when Carroll published allegations that Trump had raped her in the 1990s. Trump has consistently denied these claims and asserted that Carroll lied about the accusations. The $5 million US verdict was related to Trump’s statements in 2022, where he called Carroll’s claim a “hoax” and a “con job” on social media. Jurors concluded that Trump had sexually abused and defamed Carroll but did not find evidence to support Carroll’s claim of rape.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Carroll collected nearly $5.63 million US from Trump, representing the original civil verdict plus interest. Trump’s lawyers have raised concerns about the impact of the issue of presidential immunity on both the $83.3 million US verdict and the 2023 verdict. The Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 2024 decision that former presidents have full immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken in office, though the Carroll cases are civil lawsuits.