The US Supreme Court on Monday again rejected a petition by Donald Trump to overturn a jury verdict requiring him to pay 5 million dollars to writer E. Jean Carroll. In the civil case, the jury found Trump liable for sexual assault against Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, as well as for defaming her.
Trump and the US Department of Justice are also asking the Supreme Court to overturn a second ruling in the Carroll case, which requires him to pay a total of 83 million dollars. They argue that Trump had presidential immunity from the lawsuit over comments he made about Carroll in 2019 while he was in office. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on this appeal.
Trump’s lawyers asked the judges to reconsider his appeal after the court refused to hear it in June. The Supreme Court rarely grants such petitions, although similar cases do occur. Trump paid the court-ordered 5 million dollars shortly after the June rejection.
E. Jean Carroll’s accusations
E. Jean Carroll is a longtime columnist and former television talk show host. During the trial in 2023, she stated that Trump turned a friendly meeting in the 1990s into a violent assault in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman store—a luxury department store across from Trump Tower on Manhattan.
The jury also found Trump liable for defamation after he denied Carroll’s accusations in 2022. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
Source: South China Morning Post
