The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to challenge the $5 million civil verdict awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll.
In a one-sentence order, the justices denied Trump’s petition for rehearing without explanation. No dissents were publicly noted.
The court had already declined in June to hear Trump’s appeal of the verdict. Monday’s decision leaves that rejection in place and effectively closes another path for the president to contest the judgment.
The justices did not rule on the underlying allegations or explain their reasoning. They simply refused Trump’s extraordinary request to reconsider their earlier decision.
Supreme Court rehearings are exceedingly rare. Under the court’s rules, they are generally reserved for substantial intervening circumstances or other significant grounds that were not previously presented.
Carroll sued Trump after publicly alleging that he assaulted her inside a Manhattan department store during the 1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied her account.
A civil jury later found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million. The case was civil, not criminal, and the verdict did not result in a criminal conviction.
Trump’s appeal argued, among other things, that jurors were improperly allowed to hear testimony from other women who had accused him of sexual misconduct.
According to The Hill, Carroll received the $5 million payment, plus interest, last month.
Trump’s attorneys urged the Supreme Court to reconsider while a separate appeal involving Carroll remains before the justices. That case stems from a second trial in which a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million over additional defamatory statements made by Trump.
The president is asserting a presidential-immunity defense in the second case. His lawyers argued that the outcome of that appeal could also affect the first Carroll judgment.
“That is a paradigmatic reason to at least hold a petition,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in their request to the court.
“When a forthcoming or pending case may affect the proper disposition of another petition, the Court may hold the related petition, and later resolve it in light of the lead case,” they added.
The justices were not persuaded to keep the $5 million dispute alive.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team blasted the decision and continued to characterize the Carroll litigation as politically motivated.
“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,” the spokesperson said in a statement quoted by The Hill.
“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the spokesperson added.
Although Monday’s order shuts down Trump’s rehearing request in the $5 million case, his challenge to Carroll’s separate $83.3 million judgment remains pending before the Supreme Court.
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