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Carroll Verdict Stands
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal of a $5 million civil judgment against him in the E. Jean Carroll case, leaving the lower-court verdict in place.
“let stand a $5 million civil judgment against President Donald Trump”
The Washington Post said the decision let stand a $5 million civil judgment against Trump in a 2023 trial in which a jury found him liable for allegedly sexually assaulting and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll.
The BBC reported that a New York jury awarded Carroll $5m (£3.6m) in damages in 2023 over her civil claim that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and then branded the incident a hoax on social media.
The AP said the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s push to throw out the jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
Trump and Kaplan React
After the Supreme Court declined to take up the case, Trump responded in a Truth Social post calling it a “Fake Case” brought by “a woman I never met” and saying he would continue fighting what he characterized as “Weaponization and Lawfare Case.”
NBC News reported that Trump wrote, “This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for, and should never be allowed to happen to another President, or Candidate to be!”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said the ruling “affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E Jean Carroll,” and she added that “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed.”
The AP quoted Kaplan’s statement that “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” while also noting the Supreme Court gave no details about its decision not to take up the case.
Next Legal Steps
The Supreme Court’s Monday decision effectively ends Trump’s appeal effort in the $5 million case while leaving open the possibility of future Supreme Court review in a separate civil judgment involving Carroll.
“leaving open the possibility of future Supreme Court review”
MEAWW News said the decision “effectively concludes Trump's appeal in the case while leaving open the possibility of future Supreme Court review in a separate civil judgment involving Carroll.”
The AP reported that Trump plans to appeal another $83.3 million verdict awarded to Carroll by a different jury after a second defamation trial, and it described the Supreme Court’s action as rejecting Trump’s bid to toss the $5 million verdict.
The Guardian said the separate Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3m in damages for defaming her in 2019, and it added that Trump’s lawyers are currently appealing that ruling and intend to ask the Supreme Court to hear that appeal as well.