Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83.3 million award in E. Jean Carroll defamation case - NBC News

What the report says

NBC News reported that President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on July 28 to take up writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case and overturn an $83.3 million jury award against him. Trump’s lawyers argue that he is protected by presidential immunity for statements he made during his first term while responding to Carroll’s allegation that he sexually abused her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the litigation.

According to NBC, Carroll sued in 2019 after Trump said she fabricated the allegation, including to promote a forthcoming book. A jury in 2024 found that Trump defamed her and awarded damages. In the new Supreme Court petition, Trump’s legal team characterized the award as excessive and argued that allowing damages based on a president’s official communications would harm the presidency. They also invoked the Westfall Act, a federal law that can shield government employees from some lawsuits tied to official duties, seeking to substitute the U.S. government as the defendant. Because the government generally cannot be sued for defamation, that move would effectively defeat Carroll’s claim.

NBC reported that lower courts have already rejected Trump’s immunity argument, including a three-judge appeals panel and, later, the full appeals court’s refusal to rehear the case. Trump’s filing cited the Supreme Court’s 2024 presidential-immunity decision in challenging those rulings. Carroll’s legal team declined comment to NBC. The petition comes after the Supreme Court last month declined to review a separate Carroll defamation case, in which a jury awarded her $5 million over post-presidency statements and related claims.