President Donald Trump and the federal government have asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million defamation verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll, according to filings submitted by legal teams. Lawyers for Trump and the federal government filed the petition on a Tuesday, seeking high court review of the defamation case brought against him by journalist E. Jean Carroll.
Supreme Court Asked to Toss $83 Million Verdict
The $83.3 million award—which included both compensatory and punitive damages—was granted to Carroll by a Manhattan jury in January 2024. A federal appeals court in New York subsequently upheld the verdict. The litigation centers on statements Trump made in 2019 during his first term as president, when he disavowed knowing Carroll, denied her allegations of a 1996 sexual assault in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, and claimed she made up the story to boost book sales.
Presidential Immunity and Westfall Act Arguments
Trump’s private lawyer, Robert Giuffra, told the Supreme Court that the lower court’s ruling wrongly eviscerates Presidential immunity.
The legal filing argued that 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. Trump’s lawyers contended that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals engaged in procedural contortions
to avoid addressing whether presidential immunity protects him from the award, calling the damages grossly excessive.
Concurrently, the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to invoke the Westfall Act, which shields government employees from being sued for doing their jobs. Federal attorneys argued that absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office.
The federal government also asked the justices to decide whether the appeals court should have granted a request to recertify that Trump made his statements as part of his role as president. Under that legal mechanism, the federal government rather than Trump personally would be substituted as the defendant. William Barr originally certified in 2020 that Trump acted as president when making the statements, while Merrick Garland withdrew that certification in 2023. The 2nd Circuit later turned down a request by Pamela Jo Bondi to recertify Trump.
Context of Prior Verdicts and Legal Actions
The current filing represents the second time Trump has asked the Supreme Court to review damages awarded to Carroll. The Supreme Court previously refused to hear his appeal of a separate $5 million verdict where a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. That earlier judgment, which involved remarks Trump made after his first term ended, has already been paid to Carroll.
The New York-based appeals court split over the $83 million decision and agreed to delay that payout until the Supreme Court weighs in. Carroll’s lawyers have declined to comment on the latest filing.