The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday again rejected former President Donald Trump's effort to overturn a civil jury's finding that he sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll. This marks the second time the high court has declined to hear his appeal in the case.
In July, Trump paid Carroll more than $5 million in damages following the civil judgment. The verdict stemmed from Carroll's claim that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Further defamation claims arose from Trump's subsequent statements on social media, including a post on Truth Social where he denied the allegations and stated Carroll was "not my type."
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, expressed satisfaction with the court's decision. "As a result, the jury's unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court," Kaplan said in a statement. Legal experts described Trump's request for reconsideration as an unusual long-shot maneuver, noting that the court rarely grants such requests.
The Supreme Court's order list on Monday did not provide an explanation for its decision. In June, the court had already denied a prior attempt by Trump to review the civil case.
Trump has previously voiced strong opposition to the case, terming it a "weaponization and lawfare" matter and a "ridiculous" claim. In a post on Truth Social following the court's earlier June decision, he asserted that the case was "really against the United States of America" and should not happen to any future president or candidate. Trump's legal team had argued in their initial petition to the Supreme Court that jurors should not have been shown Access Hollywood footage from 2005, in which Trump made sexually suggestive remarks about women, during the civil trial. Trump has not yet commented on the court's latest rejection.