US Supreme Court Refuses to Review Trump's Appeal in E. Jean Carroll Case

Washington D.C. The US Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal seeking to review the civil case verdict that found President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll. 

In 2023, a New York jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in damages based on her claims. 

Carroll alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and later defamed her by calling the incident a hoax on social media. Trump has denied these allegations from the outset and has claimed that the jury's perspective was not in his favor because the judge improperly allowed evidence to be presented during the trial.

After a federal appeals court upheld the jury's verdict last year, stating there was no need for a new trial, Trump knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in its usual practice, has not provided any detailed reasons for not taking up this case.

This was Trump's last hope to overturn the jury's unanimous verdict, but with this decision, he will have to pay the compensation amount ordered to Carroll. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, issued a statement saying that the Supreme Court's decision has permanently affirmed the jury's unanimous verdict that Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll. She added that Trump's many attempts to evade accountability have failed.

Following the court's decision, Trump posted a long message on the social media platform Truth Social, calling it a politically weaponized case and stating that he would continue to fight this injustice with all his might. Trump's lawyers argued in the petition filed with the Supreme Court that Carroll's lawyers should not have been allowed to show the Access Hollywood video from 2005 to the jury, in which Trump discussed his inappropriate behavior towards women.

Although the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, it rejected the rape allegation made by Carroll under New York's penal code. The 81-year-old former columnist Carroll had filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of assaulting her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store.

In addition, due to Trump's comments on the jury's findings, another separate jury has already ordered him to pay an additional $83.3 million for defaming Carroll.