Federal court won't rehear Trump's appeal of E. Jean Carroll's $83 million defamation verdict against him

A federal appeals court Wednesday shot down President Donald Trump's request to rehear his appeal of the $83 million defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.

In a split vote, a majority of the 12-member 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s motion for a hearing by the full bench of judges, or an “en banc” hearing.

The decision opens the way for Trump to ask the Supreme Court to hear his argument of presidential immunity.

A federal jury decided in 2024 that Trump defamed Carroll when he disputed her accusation that he sexually abused her in a dressing room in the 1990s.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit first rejected an appeal from Trump based on presidential immunity in September.

In his second appeal, Trump's lawyers sought to replace the defendant with the United States and make another claim of presidential immunity, which the appeals court dismissed Wednesday.

"The fact of the matter is that no other defendant would be permitted to move to substitute the United States in his place, fifteen months after trial and the entry of judgment against him," Judge Denny Chin wrote in a 34-page statement supporting the court's decision. "The Court appropriately declined to convene en banc to revisit this issue."

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Trump's legal team said in a statement that it would appeal the decision, calling it "Liberal Lawfare."

"The American People stand with President Trump in demanding an immediate end to the unlawful, radical weaponization of our justice system, and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the illegal, Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes—the defense of which the Attorney General has determined is legally required to be taken over by the Department of Justice because Carroll based her false claims on the President’s official acts," a spokesman for Trump's legal team said in a statement.

Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, celebrated the court's denial of an "en banc" hearing in a statement.

"E. Jean Carroll is eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice," Kaplan wrote.

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The minority argued in favor of hearing Trump's challenges for a second time, writing that the case "represents a significant legal development."

“I would rehear the case en banc to bring our case law about the scope of presidential duties and immunity into conformity with decisions of the Supreme Court and to resolve these questions of exceptional importance in line with the constitutional separation of powers and normal judicial practice," Judge Steven J. Menashi wrote in a 54-page dissenting opinion.

Chin said the dissent mischaracterizes Trump’s conduct as merely “responding to an accusation that Carroll published” that should be expected considering the content of Carroll’s claims against him.

"The record showed that Trump made multiple statements over many years accusing Carroll of lying for political and financial gain, and suggesting that Carroll was too unattractive for Trump to have sexually assaulted her," Chin wrote.

Trump filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in November in a second case that Carroll brought against him focused on comments he made about her after his first term ended, as well as on the alleged assault itself. The move came after a federal appeals court tossed out Trump's appeal in that lawsuit in June.

Carroll was able to include the allegations of assault in that second lawsuit, which won her $5 million in damages through a New York law that opened a one-year window for adult victims of sexual offenses to file civil suits, even if the statute of limitations on their claims had expired.

Trump first called Carroll a liar in 2019 after she publicly claimed that he sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1996. He said Carroll made up the story to draw more sales for her upcoming book and called the claims a "hoax" and a "con job."

Trump has repeatedly denied the claims in both lawsuits and any wrongdoing.