Trump Appeals To Supreme Court To Overturn E. Jean Carroll Case Verdict
President Donald Trump has formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the civil verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, marking the latest chapter in a years-long legal battle that has shadowed his political comeback.
In a petition filed with the Court, Trumpโs attorneys argued that the $5 million jury verdict was โpropped upโ by โa series of indefensible evidentiary rulingsโ that allowed Carrollโs lawyers to introduce what they called โhighly inflammatory propensity evidence.โ The filing claimed that these rulings unfairly prejudiced the jury and violated federal evidentiary standards.
โPresident Trump has clearly and consistently denied that this supposed incident ever occurred,โ attorney Justin Smith and his co-counsel wrote in the filing. โNo physical or DNA evidence corroborates Carrollโs story. There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, and no police report or investigation.โ
Carroll first sued Trump in 2019, after publishing a memoir alleging that he raped her in a department store dressing room in New York City in the 1990s. Trump denied the accusation outright, saying he had never met Carroll, that she was not his โtype,โ and that she fabricated the story to promote her book. His forceful denials led to Carrollโs defamation claims, resulting in two separate trials.
Trumpโs lawyers now assert that U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, โwarped federal evidence rulesโ to support Carrollโs โimplausible, unsubstantiated assertions.โ They further contend that by upholding the verdict, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals created a conflict with other appellate courts over how such evidence should be treated.
When Trumpโs legal team first announced in September that they would appeal to the Supreme Court, Carrollโs lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, dismissed the move. โWe do not believe that President Trump will be able to present any legal issues in the Carroll cases that merit review by the United States Supreme Court,โ she said at the time.
A spokesperson for Trumpโs legal team characterized the Supreme Court filing as part of a broader effort to fight what they describe as politically motivated legal attacks. โThe 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,โ the statement said.
The appeal follows a series of defeats for Trump in the lower courts. In December 2024, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit upheld the $5 million verdict, rejecting claims that trial errors had tainted the outcome. In June 2025, the same court denied Trumpโs request for a full rehearing by all active judges, leaving him with the Supreme Court as his last legal option.
Trump did not attend the original 2023 trial but briefly testified at a second defamation trial in 2024, which resulted in a separate $83.3 million damages award for Carroll. That verdict was also upheld in September by a 2nd Circuit panel, which described the juryโs damages as โfair and reasonable.โ Trump has since asked the full appellate court to reconsider that decision as well.













