Trump Petitions Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3 Million Defamation Ruling in E. Jean Carroll Case

Legal representatives for former President Donald Trump have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging a $83.3 million defamation verdict awarded to journalist E. Jean Carroll. The appeal seeks to overturn a jury decision that found Trump liable for damaging Carroll’s reputation through public statements denying her sexual assault allegations.

In a separate but related filing, attorneys from the Department of Justice have also submitted a petition urging the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that Trump’s remarks were made within the scope of his official duties as president and therefore qualify for immunity under federal law.

Trump’s legal team contends that his public comments about Carroll—who alleges the former president sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store—are protected by presidential immunity. They argue that these statements were part of his official communications with the press and the public, constituting “official acts” as defined by recent Supreme Court precedent.

Federal lawyers supporting the appeal referenced the Westfall Act, which provides immunity to federal employees from civil liability when actions are taken within the scope of employment. They emphasized that without judicial intervention, a sitting president could face significant personal financial consequences for conduct tied to official responsibilities.

Trump’s private attorneys further cited the landmark 2024 Supreme Court case Trump v. United States, which expanded the notion of presidential immunity to include presumptive protection for official acts. However, that ruling applied specifically to criminal proceedings, not civil matters such as Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.

Nevertheless, Trump’s legal team has attempted to extend the 2024 precedent to civil cases. This argument was previously rejected by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on September 8 of last year.

In their Supreme Court appeal, Trump’s lawyers argued that his statements regarding Carroll were made in the course of his presidential duties and interactions with the media, and thus should be considered official acts. They also claimed that lower courts failed to adequately address the issue of presidential immunity, which was not raised during the early phases of the litigation.

“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 legal team wrote in their filing. “Yet, in upholding the exorbitant $83.3 million defamation judgment, the Second Circuit never even determined whether presidential immunity applies to the president’s allegedly defamatory statements.”

For several years, Trump has been engaged in legal battles with Carroll over two separate defamation lawsuits. The first was filed in 2019, following Carroll’s public accusation that Trump had lied about her claims for personal benefit. The second lawsuit was initiated in 2022 after Trump again dismissed Carroll’s allegations as false.

In a social media post that year, Trump described Carroll’s case as “phony,” a “complete con job,” and a “complete scam,” adding that he needed to protect his reputation from “liars, cheaters, and hacks.” At the time, Trump was no longer in office, having lost his re-election bid to President Joe Biden in 2020. He later secured the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

The second defamation case concluded first. In 2023, a jury awarded Carroll $5 million, finding Trump liable for both sexual abuse and defamation, though it did not rule in favor of her claim of rape. The 2019 civil trial reached its verdict in January 2024, with a jury ordering Trump to pay $83.3 million—largely in punitive damages—for defamation and harm to Carroll’s reputation.

Carroll, a former columnist for *Elle* magazine, first publicly detailed her accusations against Trump in her 2019 book, *What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal*. In the book, she recounted an incident in which she says Trump cornered her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in 1996, pulled down her stockings, and raped her. Trump has consistently denied the allegations, stating, “This woman is not my type.”

Since the two jury verdicts, Carroll’s legal team has accused Trump’s side of attempting to evade payment of the awarded damages. In June, the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the initial $5 million award, which had increased to nearly $5.8 million due to accrued interest. A federal judge has since ordered the payment to be processed this month.

It remains uncertain whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear Trump’s appeal of the $83.3 million defamation verdict.

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