The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. There were no noted dissents.
Defense challenges evidentiary rulings and judicial actions
Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the $5 million verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.
Trump’s attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.
“This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge.
Broader context of Supreme Court rulings and executive blowback
The decision comes as the court hands down opinions in the biggest cases of the term, many key to Trump’s agenda. Trump has publicly vented his frustration with Supreme Court losses in highly personal terms before, including unusual and highly personal criticism when the majority struck down global tariffs he imposed under an emergency powers law.
In a statement reacting to Monday’s decision, Trump’s legal team said: “The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes. President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again.”
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Legal representation for the plaintiff responds to the ruling
Carroll’s lawyers had urged the justices to pass on the case. They argued that the women’s testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and that Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions were in line with others around the country. “This question is not worthy of review,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.
In a statement Monday, she said the decision affirms the jury’s verdict will stand. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” she said.
Details of the 2023 trial and original allegations
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
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Additional damages and a history of high-stakes litigation
A jury also awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million after a second defamation trial. Trump also plans to appeal that ruling to the high court, his attorneys have said.
Trump has successfully fended off other hefty court judgments, including a New York civil fraud penalty of over $500 million thrown out by a New York appeals court.
The Supreme Court also granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution in 2024, though it later narrowly rejected his bid to halt sentencing in his New York hush money case.
