Supreme Court rebuffs Trump’s last-ditch effort to deny $5.6 million payment to E. Jean Carroll

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away President Donald Trump’s longshot effort to deny a $5.6 million payment he was ordered to make three years after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed the former magazine writer E. Jean Carroll.

The court’s decision is the latest legal loss for Trump in his protracted legal fight with Carroll. Though the Supreme Court had already denied the president’s appeal in June, Trump’s attorneys had asked the court to reconsider that decision, which the justices have now declined to do.

There were no noted dissents.

Under a lower court order, Trump had already paid Carroll the $5.6 million. Carroll’s lawyers said in a court filing that she would “place the award in an interest-bearing account until Defendant’s petition for rehearing is denied.”

Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation, and then she sued him again in 2022 for defamation and battery after New York enacted a law allowing victims of sexual abuse to file civil claims for past incidents. The second case — the one filed in 2022 — went to trial first and the jury awarded Carroll $5 million.

“We are pleased that the United States Supreme Court has declined again to hear this case,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement. “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.”

The 2019 case resulted in an $83 million judgment against Trump. Though the court’s decision Monday is the last stop for the president in this case, the separate $83 million case is now pending at the Supreme Court.

The high court rarely grants rehearing requests.

“The American People stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again.”

Carroll’s 2022 lawsuit alleged that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and defamed her by claiming she made up the story to boost sales of a book. Trump, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, has claimed US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the civil trial, made numerous errors by allowing the jury to hear testimony from two women who alleged Trump sexually assaulted them years ago.

Trump also argued that the judge should not have let the jurors see the “Access Hollywood tape,” which captured Trump in 2005 on a hot mic saying he gropes and kisses women.

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Trump was heard saying on the recording.

Last year, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s $5 million verdict against Trump, ruling the trial judge did not make errors that would warrant a new trial. In June 2025, Trump lost an effort to have the appeal reviewed by the full bench of 2nd Circuit judges and, months later, he appealed to the Supreme Court.

The appeal was delayed for months at the Supreme Court, which repeatedly set it for discussion and then rescheduled that discussion. As always, the court did not explain its reasoning for the delay.

CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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