Trump, DOJ ask Supreme Court to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict
Donald Trump and the Department of Justice have filed separate petitions to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn a civil verdict that ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for defamation. The filings argue that Trump is entitled to presidential immunity for actions taken while in office.
Why it matters
The case tests the limits of presidential immunity and the scope of the Westfall Act regarding civil liability for public officials.
President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice on Tuesday separately asked the Supreme Court to overturn a civil court verdict that ordered him to pay the writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her while denying her claim that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
"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," the petition to the Supreme Court by Trump's lawyers says.
His attorneys claim that Trump has immunity from the defamation claim because he made the comments about Carroll in 2019, when he was president. In their filing, the lawyers say that a 2024 Supreme Court ruling in Trump's favor required the verdict in the Carroll case to be overturned.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in