Trump Asks Supreme Court To Take Up E. Jean Carroll’s Defamation Case

Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to wade into his defamation dispute with author E. Jean Carroll, alleging that an appeals court failed to recognize multiple evidentiary flaws that led to an adverse verdict for him.

Trump’s legal team told The Epoch Times it filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court on Nov. 10. The justices have not yet decided whether to take up the case.

“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 spokesman for Trump’s legal team told The Epoch Times.

“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again.”

The petition, which has been reviewed by The Epoch Times, is the latest development in a years-long saga surrounding Carroll’s allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store at some point during the 1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Carroll sued him for defamation and won more than $80 million in two trials. Trump’s petition to the Supreme Court concerns a December 2024 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that upheld the verdict in one of the trials. That trial resulted in a $5 million award for Carroll.

The purported evidentiary errors in that trial prevented Trump from fully contesting Carroll’s case in another trial that resulted in an award of $83 million, Trump’s attorneys argued. The Second Circuit later upheld that larger verdict in a decision from September.

According to Trump’s attorneys, the Second Circuit’s 2024 opinion misinterpreted the Federal Rules of Evidence and wrongly allowed Carroll to rely on propensity evidence, or evidence that purported to show Trump had a propensity to act in a particular way.

One of those pieces of evidence was the Access Hollywood Tape released during the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s attorneys also took issue with allowing testimony from two women who accused Trump of unwanted touching and kissing.

In its 2024 decision, the Second Circuit rejected Trump’s criticisms of the lower court’s handling of the evidence.

“On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” an unsigned opinion read.

“Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”

An attorney who represented Carroll in the Second Circuit did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment before publishing time. In a briefing to the court, Carroll’s attorneys called Trump’s evidentiary arguments “empty.”

“There was no error here, let alone a violation of Trump’s substantial rights.”

Trump attempted to have the whole circuit rehear the case, but was denied in June, with two judges dissenting from that decision.