President Donald Trump Seeks to Overturn Defamation Judgment
President Donald Trump has taken a significant step in his ongoing defamation case against writer E. Jean Carroll by asking the Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million judgment awarded to her after a jury found him liable for defaming her by denying sexually abusing her in the 1990s.
Trump has been fighting the judgment since Carroll won her defamation case against him in 2024. According to copies of the filing obtained by CNN, Axios, and NBC News, Trump argues that he should not have to pay the damages, citing the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling granting presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.
This is the first case in U.S. history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a president for his conduct in office, Trump’s attorneys argued in the filing. Yet, in upholding the exorbitant $83.3 million defamation judgment, the Second Circuit never even decided whether presidential immunity applies, his lawyers claimed.
Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault in her 2019 memoir, stating that he abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. Trump, who denies the allegations, accused her of making up the abuse claim to sell books.
Carroll filed the defamation case in November 2019, followed by a second lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act in 2022. She was awarded $5 million in the second case, which was tried first. After Trump’s repeated efforts to overturn the judgment, the court released the money to Carroll earlier this month.
In the first case, which was tried second, Carroll was awarded $83.3 million, which Trump has challenged since. After lower courts repeatedly rejected his appeals, he asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn the judgment.
In the Supreme Court filing, Trump’s lawyers are also seeking to substitute the United States government as the defendant – a move that other courts have previously rejected. Trump’s lawyers argued that his comments about Carroll were official acts, and that the threat of even a single damages judgment will render all presidents ‘unable to boldly and fearlessly carry out their duties for fear that they may be next.’
As Trump’s lawyers argued in the filing, ‘Here, the President of the United States has been ordered to pay nearly $100 million in damages … for issuing a press release and answering reporters’ questions, from the White House, defending against attacks on his fitness for office.’
Last month, the Supreme Court had declined to hear his appeal of the $5 million judgment. Trump’s move to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million judgment marks a significant development in his ongoing defamation case against Carroll.
The implications of this case are far-reaching, with potential consequences for the separation of powers and the role of the president in the U.S. government. As the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s appeal, the nation will be watching closely to see how the high court rules on this critical issue.
The case has already sparked intense debate about the limits of presidential immunity and the role of the courts in holding public officials accountable for their actions. As the Supreme Court considers Trump’s appeal, it will be essential to consider the broader implications of this case for the U.S. government and the American people.
