Trump asks US Supreme Court to overturn $83.3 million E Jean Carroll defamation verdict
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to writer E Jean Carroll, arguing that he
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to writer E Jean Carroll, arguing that he is immune from civil liability for statements made while serving as president, Axios reported on Tuesday. According to court filings, Trump's legal team urged the top court to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the 2024 jury verdict, contending that the Second Circuit failed to properly consider whether presidential immunity applies to the case. "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," Trump's lawyers told the Supreme Court, according to CNN.
SC 2024 ruling grants presidents broad immunity The appeal relies heavily on the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that granted presidents broad immunity for official acts performed while in office. Trump's lawyers argued that the defamation case stems from statements he made in 2019 from the White House while responding 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 the defendant under the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from personal liability for actions taken within the scope of their official duties. "Here, the president of the United States has been ordered to pay nearly $100 million in damages...
for issuing a press release and answering reporters' questions, from the White House," the filing said. What is the latest appeal The latest appeal comes just weeks after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump's challenge to a separate $5 million civil verdict in which a jury found that he had sexually abused and defamed Carroll. The $83.3 million judgment relates to statements Trump made in 2019, when he denied Carroll's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. A jury found those statements defamatory and awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages in 2024. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court upheld the award, calling it "reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts" of the case.
The full Second Circuit later declined to reconsider that decision. Judge Denny Chin, writing separately when the appeals court rejected Trump's request for rehearing, said Trump had waited too long to invoke presidential immunity, noting that the defence was not raised during the first three years of the litigation. Court records also show that Carroll has already collected nearly $5.63 million from Trump following the separate $5 million judgment, after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in that case.
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