President Donald Trump petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an $83 million defamation judgment won by writer E. Jean Carroll, claiming presidential immunity shields him from liability for statements he made while serving in the Oval Office.
Presidential Immunity Claims Drive Appeal
Trump’s legal team argues that his public responses denying Carroll’s sexual assault allegations constituted official presidential duties, not personal conduct. The petition invokes the Supreme Court’s controversial 2024 ruling that established broad immunity protections for presidential acts while in office. That landmark decision previously shut down then-special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election investigation by shielding Trump from prosecution for actions deemed official.
The filing accuses the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of using procedural maneuvers to avoid addressing the immunity question. Trump’s attorneys contend that because the accusations involved his fitness for office, his statements responding to press inquiries about them were inherently presidential actions deserving constitutional protection.
Courts Reject Timing of Immunity Defense
The Second Circuit dismissed Trump’s immunity argument earlier this year, with Judge Denny Chin noting that presidential immunity claims were never raised during the first three years of litigation. The appeals court ruled Trump waited too long to assert this defense, particularly regarding his request to substitute the United States government as the defendant in Carroll’s lawsuit.
Judge Chin’s April opinion stated no other defendant would be permitted to make such substitution requests fifteen months after trial and judgment. The court emphasized that Trump’s delayed legal strategy fell well outside acceptable procedural timelines for raising constitutional defenses.
Previous Carroll Verdict Already Stands
This petition follows the Supreme Court’s recent decision declining to hear Trump’s appeal of a separate $5 million verdict. That earlier case found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store during the 1990s and defaming her in a 2022 social media post. The Court rejected that appeal without any dissenting votes, and Carroll’s attorneys confirmed the money plus interest was transferred to her account.
The current $83 million judgment stems from a 2024 trial focused exclusively on Trump’s 2019 statements denying Carroll’s allegations. A federal jury determined those denials constituted defamation, resulting in the substantial damages award Trump now seeks to overturn through his immunity claims. Carroll’s legal team declined to comment on the latest Supreme Court petition.