US Supreme Court finally rejects Trump's appeal in Carroll case

The US Supreme Court has definitively refused to review the civil case of writer E. Jean Carroll against President Donald Trump. The jury verdict requiring Trump to pay her $5 million for sexual abuse and subsequent defamation remains in force.

The decision was made on Monday, August 17. The Supreme Court did not explain its reasons and included Trump's petition in the list of cases denied rehearing. Thus, the president's avenues to challenge this specific verdict in court are effectively exhausted.

This is the second Supreme Court rejection in the case. On June 29, the justices declined to accept Trump's initial appeal seeking review of the lower courts' decisions. After that, his lawyers filed a motion for rehearing, which has now also been denied. The Supreme Court's official docket confirms the original petition was denied on June 29.

The case stems from a lawsuit by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. In May 2023, a federal jury in New York found Trump civilly liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and for subsequently defaming her. The jury awarded her a total of $5 million in damages. Trump denied the allegations throughout the proceedings.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the verdict in December 2024. After the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in June 2026, a federal court authorized the release of the funds previously held in a court-controlled account to Carroll. With accrued interest, the payment amounted to approximately $5.6 million.

However, the legal dispute between Trump and Carroll is not fully resolved. The president is separately trying to overturn another verdict issued in January 2024, when a jury ordered him to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million for statements made in 2019 that the court deemed defamatory.

Trump's appeal in that case has already been submitted to the Supreme Court. According to the official docket, the petition was filed on July 30, 2026, and Carroll's response deadline is set for August 31. Therefore, the current decision concerns only the separate $5 million verdict and does not determine the fate of the $83.3 million award.

Sources: US Supreme Court, The Guardian