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President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a jury’s civil lawsuit verdict that he sexually abused and later defamed former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump’s attorneys argued in a submitting that allegations resulting in the $5 million verdict had been “propped up” by a “collection of indefensible evidentiary rulings” that allowed Carroll’s attorneys to current “extremely inflammatory propensity proof” in opposition to him.
“President Trump has clearly and persistently denied that this supposed incident ever occurred,” Justin Smith, considered one of Trump’s attorneys, and his co-counsel wrote within the submitting, in keeping with The Associated Press. “No bodily or DNA proof corroborates Carroll’s story. There had been no eyewitnesses, no video proof, and no police report or investigation.”
Carroll sued Trump twice after she launched a ebook in 2019 that claimed Trump raped her throughout a quick encounter in a division retailer dressing room in New York City within the Nineteen Nineties. Trump vigorously denied the claims, saying he had by no means met Carroll, that she was not his “sort” and that she fabricated the incident to promote books. His vocal and repeated criticisms and denials led to Carroll’s defamation allegations.
FEDERAL APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS $83.3 MILLION E. JEAN CARROLL JUDGMENT AGAINST TRUMP
E. Jean Carroll attends Equality Now’s Make Equality Reality Gala at Cipriani 25 Broadway on Oct. 14, 2025, in New York City. On the correct, President Donald Trump waits for the arrival of Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese on the White House on Oct. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump’s attorneys accused the trial choose, Lewis A. Kaplan, of warping federal proof guidelines to bolster Carroll’s “implausible, unsubstantiated assertions.” They additionally stated that by upholding the decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was in battle with different federal appeals courts on how such guidelines must be utilized.
In September, when Trump’s attorneys first indicated they’d attraction to the Supreme Court, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, stated, “We don’t consider that President Trump will have the ability to current any authorized points within the Carroll circumstances that benefit evaluate by the United States Supreme Court,” the AP reported.
A spokesperson for Trump’s authorized crew informed the AP the Supreme Court attraction was a part of the president’s campaign in opposition to “Liberal Lawfare.”
“The American People stand with President Trump as they demand a direct finish to all the Witch Hunts, together with the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes,” the assertion stated.
TRUMP ARGUES SCHUMER ‘MADE A MISTAKE’ AMID DEMOCRAT LEADER’S PARTY INFIGHTING
E. Jean Carroll leaves following her trial at Manhattan Federal Court on May 8, 2023, in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
A 3-judge appellate panel upheld the decision in December 2024, rejecting Trump’s claims that Kaplan’s selections spoiled the trial. Then in June, 2nd Circuit judges denied Trump’s petition for the total appellate court docket to take up the case. That left Trump with two choices: settle for the consequence and permit Carroll to gather the judgment, which he’d beforehand paid into escrow, or battle on in Supreme Court.
Trump skipped the 2023 trial however testified briefly at a follow-up defamation trial final 12 months that ended with a jury ordering him to pay Carroll a further $83.3 million.
President Donald Trump speaks to journalists aboard Air Force One en path to South Korea on Oct, 29, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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The 2nd Circuit upheld that verdict on Sept. 8, with a three-judge panel calling the jury’s damages awards “honest and cheap.” Trump has since requested the total appellate court docket to listen to arguments and rethink the ruling.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Ashley Oliver and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
