Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll case

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn an $83 million judgment against him for defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexually assaulting her decades ago.

Trump’s attorneys asserted in court filings that the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision granting presidents sweeping immunity for actions taken in office shields him from liability in the high-profile case.

“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,” the attorneys wrote.

Separately, the Justice Department petitioned the high court Tuesday to allow the federal government to replace Trump as the defendant in the case.

Should the justices permit the swap, it would potentially clear the way for the Trump administration to ask for the massive judgment to be voided because the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. Lower courts have denied similar requests by the agency.

Justice officials argue that the United States should be substituted as the defendant under a law that grants federal employees some immunity from civil damages for actions taken within the scope of their employment.

They said that some of the comments at issue in Carroll’s defamation claim occurred during Trump’s first presidency.

“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” the Justice Department wrote. “That alone deserves this Court’s attention.”

Trump’s and Carroll’s attorneys declined to comment on the appeal Tuesday night.

A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the money in 2024, following a civil trial in which she testified that Trump attacked her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Trump denies the allegations.

Carroll first went public with the claims in 2019, prompting angry rebukes by Trump. Trump said the allegation that he had sexually assaulted Carroll was a “complete con job,” a “Hoax” and a “Scam” concocted to sell her memoir.

At other points, he said she was too unattractive for him to take an interest in her and accused her of lying. The comments prompted years of threats and attacks against Carroll by Trump’s supporters.

An appeals court panel upheld the $83.3 million verdict in September and denied Trump’s request in April for the full court to rehear the case. The moves paved the way for Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court.

In November, Trump appealed to the Supreme Court a $5 million verdict in a separate defamation case Carroll brought against the president.

The jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. In June, the Supreme Court let stand that verdict against Trump.