Trump appeals $83.3m E Jean Carroll civil verdict to US Supreme Court

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing its staff, Reuters and The Associated Press, reported that personal lawyers for US President Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3m civil defamation award won by writer E Jean Carroll. The report, published July 29, 2026, says the Department of Justice filed a separate petition this week supporting the same objective: to have the judgment set aside.

The filings argue that Trump’s statements about Carroll should be treated as protected conduct connected to his federal office. DOJ lawyers invoked the Westfall Act, which can shield federal employees from some civil claims for actions within the scope of their work. Trump’s private legal team also urged the court to extend reasoning from the Supreme Court’s 2024 presidential-immunity decision, although Al Jazeera notes that ruling concerned criminal prosecution rather than civil liability.

Carroll has pursued two defamation cases against Trump after publicly accusing him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s, an allegation Trump denies. One jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5m. The separate 2019 case produced the $83.3m verdict in January 2024, including punitive damages tied to harm to Carroll’s reputation.

The appeal follows a September 2025 decision by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejecting Trump’s immunity arguments in the $83.3m case. Al Jazeera reported it remains uncertain whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the latest appeal.