Donald Trump is preparing to take e. jean carroll’s $83.3 million defamation judgment to the Supreme Court. In a Tuesday filing, he asked a New York-based federal appeals court to pause its latest ruling while he seeks review and said the petition will raise presidential immunity.
He said the filing could leave him to “may immediately be required to bear the burdens of proceedings to execute on the judgment of $83.3 million.” Carroll does not oppose the motion to halt the ruling.
Trump v. United States
The new petition will ask whether “the President’s absolute immunity from civil claims based on official acts can be waived at all.” Trump’s filing also says the 2024 Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. United States, which involved criminal immunity, helps him because the statements at issue were made while he was president during his first term.
The appeal adds a civil immunity issue to a case already headed toward the justices. Trump has had another Supreme Court petition pending for months in one of the defamation cases he lost against Carroll, and the court has repeatedly rescheduled consideration of that filing. The next chance to consider it is May 14.
Carroll Verdicts and Appeals
A New York City jury awarded Carroll $5 million in 2023 after finding that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her in 2022. In the $83.3 million case, Trump argues that the trial judge wrongly admitted evidence against him, including the Access Hollywood tape.
The procedural fight now matters because it can slow execution on the judgment while the justices decide whether to take the case. Any new appeal granted review this term would not be argued until the following term, which starts in October.
Carroll is not asking to stop the latest ruling from taking effect, so the immediate path runs through the appeals court and then, if it allows, the Supreme Court. For Trump, the filing tries to keep the judgment from moving into collection steps while he presses the immunity issue.
