Trump Asks Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3M Carroll Verdict on July 29

President Trump and the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn an $83.3 million jury verdict in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll, claiming Trump has immunity from the defamation suit because he made the disputed statements while serving as president in 2019. This is the second time Trump has appealed a Carroll verdict to the justices, after they refused in June to hear his appeal of a separate $5 million verdict.

What Trump and the DOJ are arguing

Trump’s lawyers claim the 2024 Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity should overturn the verdict. They argue that Trump’s public statements about Carroll, made from the White House while defending his fitness for office, qualify as official acts protected by immunity. The DOJ separately invoked the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from civil liability for conduct within their official duties. If applied, the Westfall Act would substitute the U.S. government as defendant, effectively dismissing the case since the government cannot be sued for defamation.

Trump’s petition calls the $83.3 million award “exorbitant” and states this is “the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office.”

The underlying defamation case

Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, sued Trump in 2019 over statements he made denying her allegations of sexual assault in a 1996 Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. In June 2019, Trump called her accusations “totally false” and said she “was trying to sell a new book” that “should be sold in the fiction section.” A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in January 2024, finding Trump had defamed her. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York upheld the verdict, noting that “Carroll was subjected to ongoing and prolific harassment as a result of these statements, including a multitude of death threats.”

The appeals court rejected Trump’s immunity argument

The 2nd Circuit affirmed the verdict in April, declining to rehear the case. Trump’s lawyers now argue the appeals court “engaged in procedural contortions” to avoid addressing his immunity claims. They contend the lower court should have determined whether presidential immunity applied before upholding the damages. The Supreme Court’s 2024 immunity ruling stated that “most of a President’s public communications” are official acts, which Trump’s team says should protect his statements about Carroll.

What happens next

The Supreme Court will decide later this year whether to accept the case for its term beginning in October. The appeal was filed electronically on Tuesday and is expected to be formally docketed on Wednesday. Carroll’s lawyers have declined to comment. If the Court takes the case, it would mark a major test of how far presidential immunity extends to civil defamation claims.

Final Thoughts

Trump’s appeal tests whether the 2024 immunity ruling shields presidents from civil damages for public statements made in office. The Supreme Court’s decision could reshape liability for sitting and former presidents in defamation cases.

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