Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83 million E Jean Carroll defamation judgment
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83 million E Jean Carroll defamation judgment")
US President Donald Trump. Photograph: (AFP)
Trump urged the Supreme Court to overturn an $83 million defamation judgment awarded to E. Jean Carroll, arguing that presidential immunity shields him from liability for statements he made while in office.
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83 million defamation judgment awarded to New York columnist E. Jean Carroll, arguing that presidential immunity shields him from liability for statements he made while serving in office.
Trump's lawyers argued that the Supreme Court's 2024 immunity ruling applies to the case. They said, “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.”
The Justice Department has also asked the Supreme Court to allow the federal government to replace Trump as the defendant, according to The Washington Post. If the request is approved, the administration could seek to void the judgment because the federal government cannot face a defamation lawsuit. Lower courts have previously rejected similar requests.
Carroll publicly accused Trump in 2019. Trump denied the allegations and described them as a “complete con job,” a “hoax,” and a “Scam” aimed at increasing sales of her memoir.
An appeals court upheld the $83 million verdict in September and later rejected a request to rehear the case, allowing Trump to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
Court records showed earlier this month that Carroll has collected nearly $5.63 million from Trump. She has secured $88.3 million in civil verdicts against the president over the seven years since he first denied raping her around 1996 inside a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Last month, the Supreme Court refused to hear Trump's appeal against a jury verdict that held him liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll. The decision left a $5 million judgment against him in place.
The jury ordered Trump to pay $2 million in damages for sexual assault and another $3 million over defamatory statements he made in 2022. An appeals court upheld that verdict in December 2024.
Also Read: Yemen's Houthis consider fees for ships transiting Red Sea after declaring Saudi blockade: Report
What is the case?
The legal battle began with a federal lawsuit Carroll filed in Manhattan. She alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her inside a New York department store dressing room in 1996.
Carroll's defamation claims focused on statements Trump made after completing his first term in office. He rejected her allegations and dismissed them as a "con job" and "hoax."
On May 9, 2023, a federal civil court in Manhattan found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, a former newspaper columnist, and awarded her $5 million in damages.
Carroll, now 82, first made the allegation public in a book published in 2019. She described an alleged rape that took place 23 years earlier in a fitting room. Trump denied the accusation and called her a "nut job."
