Supreme Court Declines Trump's Appeal in E. Jean Carroll Case

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear President Donald Trump's appeal in the civil case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, allowing a $5 million damages judgment against him to stand.

Carroll sued Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse in January 2024 and awarded Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Trump appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court, but the justices declined to take the case, effectively ending his legal challenge to the judgment.

With the Supreme Court's rejection, Trump must now pay the full amount to Carroll. The decision represents a final outcome in the civil litigation, which centered on Carroll's allegation that Trump assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump has denied the allegation.

The case proceeded through the New York court system after Carroll filed suit in 2022, following the passage of a state law that temporarily allowed people to sue over sexual abuse claims that had previously exceeded the statute of limitations. The jury's finding in January made Trump the first former U.S. president to be found liable in a civil suit for sexual abuse.

Trump's legal team had argued the case should be reviewed by the nation's highest court, but the Supreme Court issued no statement explaining its decision to decline the appeal. The Court regularly turns away thousands of cases each year without explanation.