Supreme Court declines Trump's second appeal in Carroll defamation case
The Supreme Court declined to reconsider its June rejection of Donald Trump's appeal challenging a $5 million jury verdict in an E. Jean Carroll defamation case. Trump has already paid the judgment plus interest, with Carroll's representatives confirming receipt in July. A separate $83.3 million verdict in another Carroll case remains under review at the Court.
The Supreme Court declined to reconsider its June rejection of Donald Trump's appeal challenging a $5 million jury verdict awarding damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation, according to NBC News. The decision closes Trump's final legal avenue to overturn that judgment.
In an unusual move, Trump asked the Court to rehear its earlier decision. The Court did not explain its action and there were no noted dissents, per ABC News. Rehearing requests are almost never granted by the Court; no such request has been approved since the 1960s, according to ABC News.
A jury determined in 2023 that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and later defaming her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in that case, per NBC News. Trump has already turned over the $5 million plus interest, according to NBC News, and Carroll's representatives said the money was paid in July, per ABC News.
The defamation claims center on statements Trump made about Carroll after his first term. A jury found that Trump defamed Carroll in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type," according to ABC News. In earlier remarks outside his presidency, Trump described her claims as a "con job" and "hoax," per NBC News.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and stated he does not know Carroll, according to NBC News. He continues to contest the defamation allegations as baseless.
Trump has a separate appeal pending at the Supreme Court concerning a different defamation case in which Carroll won an $83.3 million judgment in 2024, per NBC News. That case involves comments Trump made as president during his first term. Trump alleges his 2019 comments about Carroll were "official" statements as president and therefore immune from use in a legal case against him, according to ABC News. The Court is expected to decide later in 2026 whether to take up Trump's petition concerning the $83.3 million judgment, per ABC News.
The Supreme Court declined Trump's request for rehearing on the $5 million Carroll verdict, closing his legal avenue to overturn that judgment.
With the $5 million verdict now final and the payment complete, the focus shifts to Trump's pending petition on the larger $83.3 million judgment. The Supreme Court's silence on rehearing standards leaves Trump's presidential immunity argument as his remaining legal claim in the Carroll cases.
Every story, sourced. Every source, rated.
Sources
- nbcnews.com lean-left / high
- The Washington Post lean-left / high
- abcnews.com unrated
- The Washington Post lean-left / high
Outlet ratings are the public AllSides and Media Bias/Fact Check charts' calls, not ours. How we rate sources.
GoCheckMyNews reports events. It does not editorialize and it does not advise. Nothing here is political advocacy, legal advice, or financial advice.