The United States Supreme Court has for a second time declined to hear President Donald Trump's appeal of a civil jury verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The court's order list, released on Monday, rejected Trump's request that the justices reconsider their June decision to refuse his appeal — an unusual legal manoeuvre that experts described as a long shot, given how rarely the court grants such requests. The ruling carries significant legal weight: Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, declared that the jury's unanimous verdict "is now final and cannot be challenged in any court."
The case stems from Carroll's allegation that Trump attacked her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in midtown Manhattan, in the mid-1990s. Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine who is now 82, testified at a 2023 civil trial that what began as a friendly encounter turned into a violent assault. The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll when he dismissed her account in a 2022 Truth Social post, calling her allegation a "hoax" and a "con job" and stating she was "not my type." Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Following the Supreme Court's earlier refusal in June, Trump paid Carroll approximately $5.8 million — the $5 million judgment plus accumulated interest.
Trump's lawyers had argued, among other things, that the trial judge improperly allowed jurors to view the so-called Access Hollywood footage from 2005, in which Trump used crude language to describe groping and kissing women — evidence they contended prejudiced the jury against him. Trump had previously vowed to keep fighting what he called a "weaponisation and lawfare case," though he had not publicly commented on Monday's decision at the time of reporting.
A separate legal battle between Trump and Carroll remains unresolved. A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a 2024 verdict relating to statements Trump made in 2019, when he was serving as president. Trump and the Justice Department are asking the Supreme Court to dismiss that case, arguing that presidential immunity shields him from civil liability for those remarks. The court has yet to act on that appeal.
For Carroll, Monday's ruling marked the end of a years-long legal journey. In a newsletter to supporters, she credited collective effort for the outcome. "One old lady can not make a difference," she wrote. "But when that old lady has a team of the most brilliant attorneys in America, and when that old lady has the support of women around the world, that old lady can do the impossible."