The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by President Donald Trump challenging a $5 million civil judgment in favour of writer E. Jean Carroll, effectively leaving intact a jury verdict that found he sexually abused and defamed her.
The decision means Carroll is now set to receive the damages awarded in the case, one of two major civil lawsuits she brought against Trump.
Carroll first sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after he denied her allegations.
She later filed a second lawsuit in 2022 for battery and defamation after New York introduced legislation allowing survivors of sexual abuse to pursue civil claims over past incidents.
Although the 2019 lawsuit was filed first, the 2022 case reached trial before it. A jury subsequently awarded Carroll $5 million after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
The 2019 case was tried later and resulted in a separate judgment of $83 million against Trump. With accrued interest, the combined amount Trump owes Carroll now exceeds $100 million.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.”
In the 2022 lawsuit, Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her inside a New York department store in the mid-1990s and later defaming her by claiming she fabricated the allegation to promote a book.
Trump has consistently denied the claims and maintained that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan committed several errors during the trial.
Among his objections was the judge’s decision to allow testimony from two women who alleged Trump had sexually assaulted them years earlier.
He also challenged the admission of the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording, captured in 2005, in which Trump was heard making remarks about women.
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Trump was heard saying on the recording.
Responding to Monday’s ruling, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team criticised the lawsuits and defended the president.
“The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes.”
“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the statement went on.
The legal setback follows a ruling last year by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the $5 million verdict and concluded that the trial judge had not committed errors significant enough to justify a new trial.
Trump later sought a review by the full appellate court but was unsuccessful in June 2025. He subsequently petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene.
In a January filing, Trump’s lawyers argued that the case was unfairly distracting him from his responsibilities as president.
“It is deeply damaging to the fabric of our republic for President Trump, in the midst of a historic presidency, to have to take his focus away from his singular and unique duties as chief executive to continue fighting against decades-old, false allegations and the myriad wrongs throughout this baseless case,” the president’s attorneys told the Supreme Court in a January filing. “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand.”
The appeal remained pending before the Supreme Court for several months, with the justices repeatedly postponing discussions on whether to take up the case. As is customary, the court did not provide reasons for its decision-making process.
Trump’s legal team is also expected to seek Supreme Court review of the separate $83 million judgment in the near future.
In opposing Trump’s appeal, Carroll’s lawyers relied heavily on the appellate court’s earlier ruling, which found sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that Trump committed sexual assault.
“The court’s duty was simply to decide whether a jury could reasonably find by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Trump committed an act of sexual assault,” a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit, all three of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents, ruled unanimously. “If it could so find, the court had the discretion to admit the evidence.”
Court records show that Trump deposited $5.5 million into a court-controlled account in 2023 after the jury verdict, paving the way for Carroll to receive the funds relatively quickly following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the appeal.
