Trump appeals $83.3m E Jean Carroll civil verdict to US Supreme Court
The Department of Justice has issued separate filings in support of Trumpâs case to toss the defamation award. Personal lawyers for United States President Donald
The Department of Justice has issued separate filings in support of Trumpâs case to toss the defamation award. Personal lawyers for United States President Donald Trump are appealing to the Supreme Court to reject an $83.3m defamation penalty a jury awarded to writer E Jean Carroll. Separately, representatives for the Department of Justice have filed a similar petition this week, seeking the same end goal. Both have argued that Trumpâs statements against Carroll â who claims the Republican leader sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store â fall within the bounds of his officeâs immunity. âAbsent this Courtâs intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,â federal lawyers wrote in their filings. They pointed to the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from certain civil lawsuits when an alleged harm is âcommitted within the scope of their employmentâ. Trumpâs personal lawyers, meanwhile, suggested that the presidentâs remarks about Carroll could fall under the precedent set in the 2024 Supreme Court case Trump v United States.
That ruling expanded the concept of presidential immunity. Previously, presidents enjoyed immunity from prosecution for any actions that fell within their constitutional authority. But after the 2024 case, âpresumptive immunityâ was extended to anything that could be considered an âofficial actâ of the presidency â a term that was left largely undefined. The precedent, however, only applies to criminal prosecution. It does not include civil cases, like Carrollâs. Still, Trumpâs personal lawyers have sought to widen the 2024 ruling to include civil proceedings. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, however, rejected that approach on September 8 of last year. In appealing to the Supreme Court, Trumpâs legal team argued that his statements about Carroll were voiced as part of his presidential interactions with the public and news reporters. They therefore constitute an âofficial actâ, according to Trumpâs court filings. His lawyers also accused lower courts of sidestepping the question of presidential immunity, which was not raised at the early stages of the litigation. âThis is the first case in our nationâs history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a president for his conduct in office,â the Trump team said in its filings.
âYet, in upholding the exorbitant $83.3 million defamation judgment here, the 2nd Circuit never even decided whether presidential immunity applies to President Trumpâs allegedly defamatory statements.â For years, Trump has fought a pair of defamation lawsuits filed by Carroll. The first was filed in 2019, after Carroll said he damaged her reputation by claiming she lied about the alleged assault for personal gain. The second came in 2022, after Trump renewed his accusation that Carroll had lied. In a social media post that year, Trump called her case âphonyâ, a âcomplete con jobâ and a âcomplete scamâ. He added that he had to defend his reputation from âliars, cheaters, and hacksâ. Trump was no longer president at that time, having lost his first re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. He has since mounted a successful re-election campaign in the 2024 presidential race. The second defamation case was resolved first. In 2023, a jury awarded Carroll $5m, finding Trump liable for both sexual abuse and defamation, though not rape, as Carroll alleged. The 2019 civil trial, meanwhile, reached a verdict in January 2024.
The BriefWire