President Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to undo an $83.3 million jury award to writer E. Jean Carroll, while the court weighs a separate Trump appeal tied to an additional $5 million verdict. The move comes as the Justice Department
When President Donald Trump’s lawyers walked into the Supreme Court’s orbit on June 2. they brought an uncomfortable number with them: $83.3 million. That is the jury award Trump has been ordered to pay to writer E. Jean Carroll after a civil finding tied to allegations that he sexually assaulted her.
In a letter to the justices dated June 2, Trump’s attorneys told the Supreme Court they will soon file an appeal aimed at throwing out the award. The court has already been sitting for months on Trump’s appeal in a related case that involves an additional $5 million jury verdict.
The letter suggested the justices may want to hold off on action in the $83.3 million fight until they receive the second appeal, expected within the next month.
The Supreme Court’s deliberation would determine whether the $83.3 million judgment against Trump can stand—at a time when his legal challenges to Carroll have kept moving through the courts and produced multiple civil trials. The broader dispute dates to 2019 and has included two civil trials.
Carroll has said she was sexually assaulted by Trump in 1996 at a New York City department store. Trump denied the account in the initial fight, telling the court that Carroll was allegedly making up the story as a way to sell a book.
Carroll sued Trump months later. She eventually won the $83.3 million judgment for damages. During the ongoing case, Trump repeated his denial in a 2022 social media post.
Then the timeline turned again. In 2023, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse against Carroll after Carroll sued under a special window of time that New York granted to sexual abuse survivors. That verdict resulted in a separate $5 million award.
Federal appeals courts upheld both judgments.
The most recent appellate language came from the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. which in September said the $83.3 million judgment was reasonable “in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case.” The appeals court said Trump’s repeated comments about Carroll led to “a multitude of death threats and other threats of physical injury.” It also said the jury was permitted to find that Trump would not stop defaming Carroll unless he faced a substantial financial penalty.
After that ruling, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into people involved in the civil lawsuits Carroll brought.
The investigation centers on whether Carroll committed perjury in her testimony against President Trump.
That criminal probe adds pressure to a civil battle already marked by aggressive back-and-forth between the parties. Trump’s lawyers have described the fight as a distraction from presidential responsibilities.
In earlier filings. Trump’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that it is “deeply damaging to the fabric of our Republic for President Trump. in the midst of a historic presidency. to have to take his focus away from his singular and unique duties as Chief Executive to continue fighting against decades-old. false allegations and the myriad wrongs throughout this baseless case.” They added. “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand. ” in connection with an appeal that has been pending since January.
The dispute has produced two civil outcomes and now two Supreme Court pathways—one already under consideration for months, and another expected to arrive within the next month—while a Justice Department criminal investigation examines whether Carroll lied under oath.
For Trump, the $83.3 million appeal is a bid to reverse the damages that followed the first civil trial. For Carroll, the fight is now also shadowed by whether the Justice Department will conclude that perjury occurred, even as the Supreme Court weighs whether the civil judgments can be sustained.
E. Jean Carroll Trump appeal Supreme Court $83.3 million verdict $5 million verdict perjury investigation Department of Justice 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defamation civil trials
Supreme Court just gonna ignore it anyway. Money talks.
How is this even still going on? Like she already won, right? Seems like they’re just dragging it out so it doesn’t get paid.
Wait so they want to toss the whole $83 million but also keep the $5 million thing? I don’t get it. Isn’t it either upheld or not? Also if the Supreme Court is ‘waiting’ then the award is basically on pause?
I hate all the legal games. Like if you file an appeal, it’s automatically delayed, so he never has to pay, right? And $83.3 million sounds like a made up number from the jury to me. Maybe they should just settle it out of court instead of bouncing between judges forever.