The US Supreme Court on August 17 declined, for a second time, to consider President Donald Trump's appeal in the civil case involving allegations he sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll in 1996. The decision was issued in the court's order list, released on Monday.
According to court documents, the justices rejected the request to revisit the court's earlier ruling from June. Previously, the court had declined to accept Trump's appeal of the 2023 judgment, in which a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of the former Elle magazine columnist. The latest decision was issued without explanation, which is common when justices decline review requests during recess.
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, expressed satisfaction with the ruling: "We are thrilled that the Supreme Court has once again declined to take up this case. As a result, the unanimous jury verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court."
Earlier, after the high court rejected the appeal in June, Carroll received the $5 million award, plus interest, bringing the total to approximately $5.8 million. Carroll has prevailed in two separate defamation lawsuits against Trump.
The case originated in 2019, when Carroll published excerpts from her memoir alleging Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996. Trump denied the allegations, calling her "mentally ill" and saying she was "not my type."
A separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in the 2024 case, related to Trump's statements in 2022, when he called her accusations a "hoax" and a "scam" on social media. Trump is still appealing that verdict to the Supreme Court, arguing that presidential immunity protects statements he made while in office.
