BREAKING: Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid to Overturn E. Jean Carroll Verdict

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal seeking to overturn the $5 million civil verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll and later defaming her, leaving the jury’s decision in place.

The justices issued a brief order rejecting Trump’s petition, a move that effectively ends his effort to undo the 2023 judgment stemming from Carroll’s claims that Trump assaulted her in the dressing room of New York department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996.

Trump’s legal team had argued the trial was tainted by what it called “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including the decision to allow testimony from two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied the allegations made by all three women.

The president’s attorneys also contended that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan improperly applied federal evidence rules, describing the case as an unfair burden on the presidency despite the verdict being handed down before Trump returned to the White House.

Carroll’s lawyers had urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal.

A jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll after he publicly denied her accusation in 2022. Trump is separately appealing the $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to Carroll following a second trial. That case has not yet reached the Supreme Court.

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