Supreme Court rejects Trump’s push to toss $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court President Donald Trump’s request was denied on Monday. to throw jury finds that he sexually harassed the author E. Jean Carroll He was at a New York City store in the mid-1990s who later slandered him.
The high court, as always, refused to take up the case in a brief and inexplicable decision. There was no significant opposition.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that the allegations that led to the $5 million verdict were supported by “highly provocative” evidentiary decisions, including those allowing testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct decades ago. Trump denied the allegations of all three women.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge violated federal rules of evidence in the case. They framed it as a departure from Trump’s distinctive duties as president, even though the decision came before his return to the White House.
“This mistreatment of the President cannot be allowed to continue,” attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since Nominated Smith Becoming an appellate court judge.
The ruling comes as the court weighs in on some of the biggest cases of the term, many of which are key to Trump’s agenda. Trump has publicly expressed his disappointment with Supreme Court losses in deeply personal terms before; this included unusual and highly personal criticism when the majority decided. Lowered global tariffs imposed under the emergency powers law.
Carroll’s lawyers had asked the judges to accept the case. They argued that the women’s testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and Judge Lewis Kaplan’s rulings were consistent with other rulings across the country. “This question is not worth examining,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge. A message seeking comment on Monday’s ruling was sent to Carroll’s attorneys.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at the 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in the spring of 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury also found Trump liable for defamation in 2022 for denying Carroll’s claim.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll did.
The jury also awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million following a second defamation trial. Trump also objects to this decision, but the decision has not yet reached the Supreme Court.
Trump successfully fended off others heavy court decisionsIncluding a New York civil fraud fine of more than $500 million that was vacated by a New York appeals court. The Supreme Court also allowed him broad immunity From criminal prosecution in 2024, but later narrowly rejected Offer to stay sentencing in New York hush money case.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.
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