Trump and DOJ separately petition Supreme Court to overturn $83.3M defamation verdict

President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday separately asked the Supreme Court to overturn a civil court verdict ordering him to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her. The case stems from statements Trump made while president in 2019, denying Carroll's claim that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Key Arguments

• Trump's petition argues that he has presidential immunity from the defamation claim because his comments about Carroll were made in 2019, while he was in office. His lawyers stated: "This is the first case in our Nation's history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office."

• The DOJ's petition contends that the U.S. government should have been substituted for Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit, given that he was president at the time of the statements. Under the Westfall Act, federal employees are shielded from certain civil claims—including defamation—for conduct performed in the course of their duties. If that substitution had been allowed, the case would have been dismissed.

Background

The two petitions arrive one month after the Supreme Court rejected Trump's request to hear an appeal of a separate $5 million verdict in favor of Carroll in a related civil case. Carroll received that money two weeks ago, along with more than $600,000 in interest, from a court fund where Trump had deposited funds to secure the verdict.

Case Timeline

• May 2023: A Manhattan federal court jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the 1990s, and for defaming her in late 2022 when he made statements denying her allegations.

• January 2024: A second Manhattan federal court jury found Trump civilly liable for defaming Carroll in 2019, when she went public with her rape allegation. That jury awarded $83.3 million in damages.

• Appeals: The $83.3 million verdict was upheld by the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Trump's Legal Position

In their petition, Trump's lawyers argued that the 2nd Circuit "wrongly held that President Trump had somehow forfeited the defense of Presidential immunity solely because his first responsive pleading did not invoke Presidential immunity by name, even though President Trump repeatedly invoked that immunity, including in his answer to the amended complaint and his motion for summary judgment."

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