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President Donald Trump on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 2023 New York civil jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, escalating his years long legal fight over her allegations.
Trump’s petition seeks to overturn the $5 million award upheld by lower courts, calling Carroll’s claims “implausible” and arguing that evidentiary rulings in the case unfairly influenced the jury. The request marks his final attempt to erase the verdict after two unsuccessful appeals.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Trump’s appeal in December 2024 and denied a full court review in June. With those denials, the Supreme Court now represents his last chance to challenge the jury’s unanimous finding that he sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her when he denied the assault.
While the jury did not find Trump liable for rape under New York law, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan later wrote that the panel’s determination amounted to an “implicit finding” that Trump had forcibly penetrated Carroll with his fingers — conduct he described as “digital rape.”
In his filing, Trump accused Kaplan of “errors” that prejudiced the proceedings and reiterated that Carroll’s allegations were “politically motivated.” A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement that the case was part of a broader effort to target the former president.
“The American people stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes,” the spokesman said.
Carroll’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Her legal team received some funding from a nonprofit linked to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.
Trump, who has denied Carroll’s accusations since she first went public in 2019, is also appealing a separate defamation verdict issued in January 2024 that awarded Carroll more than $83 million. Together, the two juries have ordered Trump to pay over $88 million in damages.
The Supreme Court could decide later this year whether to hear the case.
