Trump Asks US Supreme Court To Overturn E Jean Carroll’s $83.3 Million Defamation Verdict | Today’s news
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to writer E Jean Carroll, saying he is immune from civil liability for statements made while serving as president, Axios reported Tuesday.
According to court filings, Trump’s legal team urged the high court to review a federal appeals court decision that upheld the 2024 jury verdict, arguing that the Second Circuit failed to properly consider whether presidential immunity applied to the case.
“This is the first case in our nation’s history that a court has held a president liable for damages for his conduct in office,” Trump’s lawyers told the Supreme Court, according to CNN.
SC Ruling 2024 grants presidents broad immunity
The appeal relies heavily on a 2024 Supreme Court decision that granted presidents broad immunity from official acts performed while in office.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the defamation case stemmed from a statement he made in 2019 from the White House in response to allegations made by Carroll, and that those comments should be protected by presidential immunity.
They also asked the court to consider whether the United States government, rather than Trump personally, should be substituted as a defendant under the Westphalia Act, which protects federal employees from personal liability for actions taken in the course of their official duties.
“Here, the President of the United States was ordered to pay nearly $100 million in damages … for issuing a press release and answering questions from White House reporters,” the filing said.
What is the latest appeal
The latest appeal comes just weeks after the Supreme Court refused to hear Trump’s challenge to a separate $5 million civil verdict in which a jury found he sexually abused and defamed Carroll.
The $83.3 million judgment is related to statements Trump made in 2019 when he denied Carroll’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. The jury found the statements defamatory and awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages in 2024.
Earlier this year, a federal appeals court upheld that award, calling it “reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts” of the case. The entire Second Circuit later declined to reconsider that decision.
Judge Denny Chin, who wrote separately when the appeals court denied Trump’s request for a new hearing, said Trump waited too long to invoke presidential immunity, noting the defense was not raised during the first three years of the lawsuit.
Court records also show Carroll has already collected nearly $5.63 million from Trump following a separate $5 million judgment after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in that case.
The Supreme Court is expected to consider whether to hear Trump’s latest appeal when it reconvenes in the fall. If the justices agree to take up the case, a final decision is unlikely before next year.
