The Supreme Court on Monday declined for a second time to consider former President Donald Trump's request to avoid paying $5.6 million to writer E. Jean Carroll. The case appeared on the court's list of denials on Monday, without an explanation of the justices' individual positions.
Trump had previously asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its June decision that denied his attempt to claw back the judgment awarded to Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation. In an unusual step, the court had agreed to distribute Trump's petition for rehearing to all nine justices, a procedural move that could have allowed the court to revisit the case. However, the court's Monday order indicates this effort was unsuccessful.
Trump has already paid $5 million in damages, plus interest, to Carroll. The lawsuit, filed by Carroll in 2022, accuses Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and subsequently defaming her when she publicly shared her accusations.
Carroll's legal team has argued that Trump has unsuccessfully pursued multiple avenues in court, including a previous appeal to the Supreme Court, to contest the lower court's judgment.
Trump's lawyers had filed the petition for rehearing, a rare measure, asserting it would "present important questions concerning Presidential immunity for statements President Trump made in 2019, while serving as President." This appeared to signal an intention to argue that the reasoning in the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Trump v. United States, which established presumptive immunity for a sitting president's official acts, should extend to civil cases.
Separately, Trump is appealing an $83 million judgment from another defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear that appeal later this year.