Trump appeals $83.3m E Jean Carroll civil verdict to US Supreme Court
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- Trump's personal lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court to void the $83.3 million defamation verdict Carroll won in January 2024, arguing his denials of her sexual assault accusation were "official acts" of the presidency.
- The Department of Justice filed a separate petition this week invoking the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from certain civil suits when harm occurs "within the scope of their employment."
- Trump v. United States (2024) expanded "presumptive immunity" to anything that could be considered an official presidential act — but that precedent applies only to criminal prosecution, not civil cases like Carroll's.
- The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump's immunity theory on September 8, 2024, and his lawyers now accuse lower courts of sidestepping the immunity question entirely.
- The Supreme Court already declined in June to hear Trump's appeal of the separate $5 million 2023 verdict — which has grown to roughly $5.8 million with interest — with a federal judge ordering payment disbursed this month.
- Carroll first publicly accused Trump of raping her in a 1996 Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in her 2019 book; Trump was not president when he made the 2022 statements that triggered the $83.3 million verdict.
Why it matters: The DOJ's separate filing has the federal government backing Trump's argument that publicly calling a sexual assault accuser a liar is an 'official act' of the presidency — a theory his own team concedes would be a first in American history. The Supreme Court already refused his appeal of the separate $5 million judgment last June.
