Supreme Court Lets $5M Carroll Sexual Abuse Verdict Against Trump Stand

A final legal door closes for Trump

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear President Donald Trump's appeal of a $5 million civil verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll — leaving that judgment permanently in placescotusblog. The justices acted in a brief, unexplained order, as is standard when the court denies reviewpbs. There was no noted dissent from the denialscotusblog.

Carroll filed her federal lawsuit in Manhattan in 2022, alleging that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer near Trump Tower, in spring 1996, and later defamed her when he publicly dismissed her account as a "con job" and a "hoax"nbcnews. A jury found Trump liable on both counts in 2023 and awarded Carroll $5 millionnbcnews. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the verdict in 2024scotusblog.

What Trump's lawyers argued — and what failed

Trump's legal team had contended that the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, made prejudicial evidentiary rulings that inflated Carroll's casepbs. Specifically, they objected to the admission of testimony from two other women — Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff — who separately accused Trump of sexual misconduct, as well as the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump could be heard discussing groping womennbcnews. Trump has denied all of the allegationsnbcnews.

His attorneys argued the judge violated federal evidence rules and framed the verdict as a "mistreatment of a President" that "cannot be allowed to stand"pbs. Carroll's lawyers countered that the evidence was properly admitted as it bore on Trump's alleged prior conduct and propensity, and that the Second Circuit had found the evidentiary questions were not decisive to upholding the verdictnbcnews +1.

A second Carroll verdict still looms

Monday's ruling definitively closes off Trump's legal avenues in this case, but a related judgment remains in the pipeline. A second jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a separate defamation trial covering statements Trump made while in his first termscotusblog. Trump is appealing that ruling separately, with the case still before the Second Circuit; his attorneys argue the claims should be dismissed on presidential immunity groundsnbcnews.

The Supreme Court's one-line denial means a sitting president now carries an irreversible civil court finding of sexual abuse and defamation on his permanent record — a legal outcome without precedent in American historyscotusblog.