President Donald Trump on Monday made his final constitutional appeal in the long-running legal saga with writer E. Jean Carroll, formally asking the Supreme Court to overturn the civil jury findings that he sexually abused and defamed her, a move that challenges a core judicial finding upheld by two lower courts.
The petitions focus on the two separate judgments awarded to Ms. Carroll—the initial $5 million verdict for sexual abuse and a subsequent $83.3 million verdict for defamation—arguing that both were the result of a fundamentally flawed trial process. The request throws the high-profile civil case onto the docket of a Supreme Court whose conservative majority includes three of Mr. Trump’s appointees.
The Legal Assault on Evidentiary Rulings
Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that the trial judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, committed a “series of indefensible evidentiary rulings” that unfairly prejudiced the jury against the President.
The primary legal claims center on two key issues:
- “Propensity Evidence”: The appeal contends that Judge Kaplan improperly allowed Ms. Carroll’s legal team to present “highly inflammatory propensity evidence,” including testimony from two other women who accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct in the past, as well as the 2005 Access Hollywood recording. Mr. Trump’s team claims this evidence, admissible under specific federal rules, was used to improperly suggest a pattern of behavior rather than focus only on the Carroll claim.
- Improper Preclusion in Defamation Trial: Regarding the subsequent $83.3 million judgment, the President’s lawyers argue that Judge Kaplan “improperly prevented” Mr. Trump from contesting the first jury’s finding of sexual abuse in the second trial, leading to an “unjust judgment.” The judge had ruled that the first verdict settled the matter of sexual abuse.
Mr. Trump’s legal team, in the lengthy filing, characterized Ms. Carroll’s decades-old allegations as “facially implausible, politically motivated allegations” and reiterated the President’s consistent claim that the incident “never occurred.”
An Uphill Battle After Appeals Court Loss
The appeal to the Supreme Court comes after Mr. Trump suffered back-to-back defeats in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Initial Upholding: The Second Circuit unanimously upheld the initial $5 million verdict in December 2024, finding that Judge Kaplan had not abused his discretion and that any claimed errors were “harmless.”
- Defamation Upholding: In September 2025, the same appeals court upheld the massive $83.3 million defamation award, citing the “extraordinary and egregious facts of this case” and the trial judge’s determination that the degree of reprehensibility of the President’s conduct was “remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented.”
The Supreme Court is under no obligation to hear the case, and Ms. Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge), has previously stated that they do “not believe that President Trump will be able to present any legal issues in the Carroll cases that merit review.”
The high court’s response, which could take weeks or months, will determine whether the civil judgments—now amounting to over $88 million—are final, or if this extraordinary legal battle will continue to cast a shadow over the President’s second term.