The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal of a $5 million civil verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll, leaving in place a 2023 jury decision that found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
The justices did not explain their decision, and no public dissents were noted. The move effectively ends Trump’s attempt to overturn that specific verdict after lower courts had already rejected his arguments that the trial was unfair.
A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $5 million in 2023 after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The jury did not find Trump liable for rape under the legal standard applied in that case, but it did find him liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her through public statements denying her allegations. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case follows a 2024 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the verdict. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the trial judge improperly allowed jurors to hear evidence involving other alleged misconduct. The appeals court rejected that argument, and Carroll’s lawyers urged the Supreme Court not to intervene.
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Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, first publicly accused Trump in 2019 of assaulting her in the 1990s at a Manhattan department store. Trump denied the allegation and accused her of lying, leading to years of litigation in federal court.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it confirmed the jury’s verdict and ended Trump’s effort to avoid the judgment. Trump responded on Truth Social by calling the case fake and criticizing the court for refusing to review it.
The ruling does not end all litigation between Trump and Carroll. A separate defamation case resulted in an $83.3 million judgment against Trump in 2024 over additional statements he made about Carroll. Trump is still appealing that larger verdict, and his lawyers have said they may also ask the Supreme Court to review it.
The two cases are legally separate but politically connected. Together, they have kept Carroll’s allegations and Trump’s responses in the national spotlight for years. They have also raised questions about how civil courts handle allegations involving powerful public figures and whether repeated public denials can create additional legal exposure.
For Trump, the Supreme Court’s decision is another legal setback in a long-running civil case. It also means the $5 million judgment remains intact while he continues to fight the separate $83.3 million award. For Carroll, it marks a major step toward finality in the first case.
The decision is also important because the Supreme Court did not revisit the lower courts’ handling of evidence or jury instructions. By declining review, the justices left the appeals court ruling in place without setting a new national precedent. That is common when the court rejects petitions, but the political attention around Trump makes the decision especially high-profile.
For ordinary Americans, the case is a reminder that civil lawsuits can proceed separately from criminal cases and can result in major financial judgments even when the defendant denies wrongdoing. Civil cases use a different legal standard than criminal prosecutions, and liability does not carry the same meaning as a criminal conviction.
Some details remain unresolved, including whether Trump will succeed in challenging the larger $83.3 million defamation judgment and whether the Supreme Court will eventually be asked to consider that separate case.
Why It Matters
The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Trump’s appeal leaves the $5 million Carroll verdict in place and closes one chapter of a yearslong legal fight. The decision also keeps attention on Trump’s separate $83.3 million defamation judgment, which remains under appeal.
What Comes Next
Trump’s legal team is expected to continue fighting the separate $83.3 million defamation award. Carroll’s attorneys are likely to argue that the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the $5 million verdict reinforces the strength of the earlier jury finding.
The Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal, leaving the $5 million civil verdict in Carroll’s case in place.
BREAKING: Donald Trump’s appeal to overturn a $5m verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll has been declined by the US Supreme Court.
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