Trump Appeals Supreme Court to Overturn E. Jean Carroll Verdict

Former President Donald Trump has formally requested the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a jury’s ruling that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s. The jury also determined that Trump defamed Carroll by making derogatory remarks about her allegations in 2022. Trump’s legal team contends that the evidence presented during the trial was flawed and biased, which they argue led to an unjust verdict.

In a detailed filing submitted to the Supreme Court on October 2, 2023, Trump’s lawyers claimed that the jury’s finding of $5 million was supported by “indefensible evidentiary rulings.” They argue that these rulings allowed Carroll’s legal team to introduce what they characterized as “highly inflammatory propensity evidence” against Trump.

Carroll, known for her long career as an advice columnist and television personality, testified that a chance meeting with Trump at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan, turned into a violent assault in a dressing room during the spring of 1996. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll after he publicly denied her allegations in October 2022.

Trump’s legal representative, Justin D. Smith, labeled Carroll’s accusations a “politically motivated hoax.” They criticized trial Judge Lewis A. Kaplan for allegedly manipulating federal evidence rules to favor Carroll’s claims, which they assert lacked substantial foundation. According to the filing, “No physical or DNA evidence corroborates Carroll’s story. There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation,” Smith and his co-counsel stated.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, had previously expressed skepticism about the merits of Trump’s appeal, stating that there were no significant legal issues to warrant Supreme Court review.

In a statement regarding the Supreme Court appeal, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team claimed it was part of a broader effort against what they termed “Liberal Lawfare.” The statement emphasized that “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.”

In December 2024, a three-judge panel from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the initial verdict, dismissing Trump’s allegations that Judge Kaplan’s decisions compromised the fairness of the trial. The appellate judges allowed testimony from two additional women who alleged similar misconduct by Trump in the 1970s and 2005. Trump has consistently denied all allegations from these women.

Following the appellate court’s ruling, Trump faced a decision: either accept the verdict and allow Carroll to collect the judgment, which he had previously paid into escrow, or continue his legal battle at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority that includes three justices appointed by Trump, may be more inclined to review his challenge.

Trump did not attend the trial in 2023 but participated briefly in a subsequent defamation trial that concluded with a jury ordering him to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million. This second trial stemmed from statements Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first publicly accused him in her memoir. Judge Kaplan presided over both trials and directed the second jury to accept the first jury’s finding that Trump had sexually abused Carroll.

In their filings, Trump’s legal team argued that Judge Kaplan’s previous rulings included “significant evidentiary errors” which unjustly led to the substantial judgment against him. The 2nd Circuit reaffirmed the ruling on September 8, 2023, declaring the jury’s damages awards to be “fair and reasonable.”

Recently, Trump has experienced some success in countering costly civil judgments. In August 2023, a New York appeals court overturned a substantial penalty imposed on him in a state civil fraud case.

The Associated Press typically does not identify individuals who allege sexual assault unless they have publicly come forward, as Carroll has done.