Washington, June 29: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the USD 5 million verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.
His attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.
A jury also awarded Carroll an additional USD 83.3 million after a second defamation trial. Trump is also appealing that ruling, though it’s not yet before the Supreme Court.
Trump has successfully fended off other hefty court judgments, including a New York civil fraud penalty of over USD 500 million thrown out by a New York appeals court. The Supreme Court also granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution in 2024, though it later narrowly rejected his bid to halt sentencing in his New York hush-money case. (AP)
