The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday again declined to overturn a jury’s $5 million finding that President Donald Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, denying his lawyers’ request to reconsider the case.
Trump’s legal team had asked the justices to revisit their earlier refusal to hear his appeal. The court denied that petition along with several others, offering no explanation, as is customary.
It is unusual, though not unheard of, for the court to grant such reconsideration requests. Trump paid the judgment shortly after the justices first declined to take up his appeal in June.
A separate and larger dispute remains unresolved. Trump and the Justice Department are asking the high court to throw out a second Carroll verdict totaling $83 million, arguing that he is immune from being sued over remarks he made about her in 2019 while serving as president. The court has not yet acted on that appeal.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former television talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly 1990s encounter into a violent attack in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury found him liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for his legal team characterized the case as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax,” language the president has frequently used to describe legal actions against him.
The ruling is one of several matters before the justices involving the president, who has also turned to the court on questions ranging from executive authority to a contested White House construction project.
With the $5 million judgment already paid and the appeal exhausted, that portion of the litigation is effectively concluded. The outcome of the far larger $83 million verdict now rests with the justices, who have yet to signal whether they will hear the immunity arguments.