The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal of a $5 million judgment finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, ending his effort to overturn the 2023 verdict.
The court denied certiorari in Trump v. Carroll in a brief and unexplained order, which is typical for such decisions. Trump had argued that his trial judge, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, improperly admitted “highly inflammatory” evidence, including testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual assault and the 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was recorded making vulgar comments about grabbing women. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the verdict in 2024. No justice filed a written dissent from Monday’s denial.
The 2023 jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, a Manhattan luxury department store, in 1996, and for defaming her when he denied her accusations in 2022, awarding her $5 million in total damages.
Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, first disclosed her account in 2019 in a book excerpt published in New York Magazine. She filed suit in 2022 under the New York Adult Survivors Act, a state law that opened a one-year window for civil claims otherwise barred by the statute of limitations.
“His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” said Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan.
Following the ruling, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength.”
Trump’s attorney, Justin D. Smith, wrote in a brief submitted to the Court that “this mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand.” Trump later nominated Smith to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the Senate has confirmed him.
A separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a second defamation trial stemming from statements Trump made during his first term in office. The Second Circuit upheld that judgment in September 2025, and Trump is seeking Supreme Court review of that ruling.
