Trump urges Supreme Court to overturn Carroll's $83M award
President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million defamation verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll, arguing presidential immunity shields him from damages for 2019 White House statements. The appeal is not yet docketed and will not be considered until the fall.
Key Takeaways
- Trump is appealing an $83.3 million jury award for statements he made about Carroll while president in 2019.
- His lawyers say the Supreme Court’s 2024 immunity ruling should bar the judgment and that the Second Circuit never decided whether immunity applies.
- He also wants the court to review whether the U.S. government—not the president—should be the defendant.
- The justices recently declined a separate Trump appeal tied to a $5 million Carroll verdict; Carroll’s attorneys declined to comment on the new filing.
- Because the court is in summer recess, any consideration would wait until fall, with a possible ruling next June if the case is taken.
What is Trump asking the Supreme Court to do?
On Tuesday, Trump urged the Supreme Court to reverse the $83.3 million defamation judgment, according to CNN’s review of the appeal. His team calls it the first case in U.S. history in which a court imposed damages liability on a president for conduct in office.
“Yet, in upholding the exorbitant $83.3 million defamation judgment here, the Second Circuit never even decided whether presidential immunity applies,” Trump’s attorneys told the justices.
They argue an appeals court decision favoring Carroll would “cause significant damage, not only to this president and future presidents” but also the nation. The filing leans heavily on the court’s 2024 decision granting presidents wide immunity for official acts.
Why does this defamation case matter now?
The dispute centers on 2019 statements Trump made from the White House denying Carroll’s assault allegation, saying she was not his type, and claiming she invented the story to sell a book. A jury found those remarks defamatory and ordered roughly $83 million in damages.
A federal appeals panel later affirmed the award as “reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts” and rejected several Trump challenges. Among them, the panel found he had previously waived presidential immunity and said the 2024 immunity ruling did not change that view.
The full Second Circuit declined to revisit the decision in late April. Circuit Judge Denny Chin wrote that presidential immunity was not raised for the first three years of the case and rejected a late bid to substitute the United States as defendant under the Westfall Act—a move that could have ended Carroll’s claim.
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What happens next in the Carroll appeals?
Trump has denied wrongdoing in both Carroll cases. Weeks ago, the Supreme Court declined to take up his separate challenge to a $5 million civil verdict that found he sexually abused and defamed Carroll. He has sought reconsideration of that denial, while a federal judge ordered the money released to her.
Attorneys for Carroll declined to comment on the new $83.3 million appeal. Both Trump and the Justice Department had signaled they would go to the high court after the Second Circuit’s April decision, with immunity and Westfall Act substitution among the issues.
The Supreme Court is not in session over the summer, so it will not weigh the petition until the fall. If the justices agree to hear the case, a decision would not likely come until next June.