Trump asks Supreme Court to reverse $83 million E. Jean Carroll verdict

He requested that justices find his statements denying Carroll’s claims were made in relation to his official capacity as president, in addition to asking the Supreme Court to let the U.S. government swap as the defendant. The Department of Justice is seeking to invoke the Westfall Act, which shields government employees from being sued for doing their jobs.

“This is the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “Because accusations bearing on the President’s fitness for office are unquestionably matters of public concern, Presidential statements responding to press questions about such accusations are plainly official. This Court should say so.”

“The Second Circuit instead engaged in procedural contortions to avoid addressing Presidential immunity,” the petition continued. 

Carroll has brought two lawsuits against Trump, both of them regarding defamation over her sexual abuse claims. The president has denied all of her claims, arguing that the timing of her sexual abuse accusation was suspicious and helped promote her book tour. Trump has also claimed Carroll has lied about key evidence, including the dress she said she was wearing at the time of the alleged assault. 

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Carroll filed the first lawsuit in 2019 and secured a $5 million victory in the case in a 2023 court decision. She filed the second lawsuit in 2022, making additional claims under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. She won that case as well, winning herself over $83 million. 

Trump appealed both verdicts to the Supreme Court, which declined last month to rehear the first lawsuit. He has since paid out the $5 million settlement to Carroll, in addition to interest that had accrued since 2023.