Overview
- The Supreme Court on Monday, June 29, 2026, refused to hear President Donald Trump's appeal of the 2023 jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, leaving the $5 million judgment intact.
- The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had already affirmed the verdict on grounds that any disputed evidentiary rulings did not affect Trump’s substantial rights, including decisions to admit testimony from two other accusers and an excerpt of the 2005 Access Hollywood tape.
- Court records show Trump placed about $5.5 million in a court-controlled account after the 2023 verdict, and Carroll’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to order that those funds be released now that the Supreme Court denied review.
- A separate 2024 jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million for earlier defamation claims and that judgment remains under appeal, meaning Trump faces more than $100 million in potential civil liability once interest and all rulings are resolved.
- The ruling closes one major legal path for Trump while his team continues to challenge related judgments and publicly frame the litigation as unfair to the presidency, and the case sits alongside other probes including a Justice Department inquiry into Carroll’s testimony.