Supreme Court declines Trump’s request to reconsider $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict

The Supreme Court on Monday denied President Donald Trump’s request to reconsider its earlier refusal to hear his appeal in E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million civil case, closing off that path at the nation’s highest court.

The action leaves intact a lower-court ruling that upheld the verdict against Trump in the case. The justices did not explain the denial, which is typical when the court declines review or rejects a rehearing request. Supreme Court docket entries show Trump filed the rehearing petition July 8 after the court on June 29 declined to take up his appeal.

The case stems from a May 2023 civil trial in federal court in Manhattan. In that case, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist, and awarded her about $5 million in damages. A federal appeals court, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, later upheld that result.

Trump’s lawyers had urged the justices to revisit the June denial, arguing in part that related Carroll litigation is still pending and pointing to immunity and evidentiary issues raised on appeal. Monday’s order did not address those arguments and did not amount to a ruling on the merits of the underlying case.

In practical terms, the money in the $5 million case had already been released. After the Supreme Court declined review on June 29, a federal court in Manhattan in July released more than $5.6 million that had been held in court-controlled escrow to Carroll. Monday’s order does not trigger a new payment.

The ruling Monday concerns only the 2023 civil case that ended in the roughly $5 million verdict. A separate Carroll matter is still before the Supreme Court. In that case, Trump on July 28 asked the justices to review an approximately $83.3 million judgment against him in a different defamation lawsuit tied to his 2019 statements about Carroll.

That distinction matters because the two cases, though both brought by Carroll, are at different stages and involve different judgments. Monday’s order means the Supreme Court will not revisit the $5 million case. The separate petition over the larger $83.3 million award remains pending.