President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to review a $5 million civil judgment that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. On Monday, his legal team filed a petition seeking to overturn the verdict.
In May 2023, a jury determined that Trump had sexually abused Carroll during an encounter in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her by calling her allegation a “hoax” and a “con job” while serving as president. In their new filing, Trump’s lawyers argue there were “no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation.” They claim that Carroll “waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Donald Trump, who she politically opposes, until after he became the 45th President, when she could maximize political injury to him and profit for herself.”
The case has already been through multiple rounds of litigation. A federal appeals court last year upheld the $5 million verdict after Trump challenged it on several fronts, including claims of judicial error and the admission of testimony from other women who accused him of sexual misconduct. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the original case, had allowed testimony from two women — Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff — whose accounts Trump has denied. The appeals court ruled that Kaplan did not abuse his discretion in admitting that testimony.
Now, Trump is asking the nation’s highest court to intervene. His lawyers argue that Kaplan “compounded his significant evidentiary errors” and improperly restricted Trump from contesting the jury’s finding of sexual abuse, which they say led to “an unjust judgment of $83.3 million” in a separate defamation case. That larger figure stems from Carroll’s second lawsuit, which centered on Trump’s continued public denials after the first verdict. Trump’s legal team appears to be using this latest appeal not only to challenge the $5 million award but also to cast doubt on the broader defamation rulings tied to Carroll’s claims.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team issued a statement framing the appeal in political terms: “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.” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, declined to comment.
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will take up the case, and it rarely grants such requests. If it does, this would be the first time one of the Carroll judgments reaches that level of review. The Court’s decision to hear or decline the case will determine whether Trump’s last avenue of appeal remains open or officially closes.
Trump has repeatedly tried to overturn the rulings in Carroll’s cases. His earlier appeal of the $83 million defamation verdict failed in September.
