The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Donald Trump to overturn the verdict in a case brought by E. Jean Carroll.
In 2023, a unanimous federal jury found that Trump sexually abused her during an encounter in the 1990s at a department store in New York City. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million. A jury of nine, mostly men, took less than three hours to return a verdict.
The jury did not find that Carroll had proven her rape claim. However, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan later wrote that the finding that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll by forcibly inserting his fingers amounted to an “implicit determination that Mr. Trump digitally raped her.”
Trump has denied the allegations, although he was never physically present at the trial and his attorneys presented no witnesses. The allegations went public after the victim released a book excerpt in New York Magazine.
In January 2024, a separate federal jury found him liable of defamation against Carroll and awarded her $83 million. Trump had asked the SCOTUS to review both cases.
A member of Trump’s legal team has called the case a “Democrat-funded” hoax.
“President Trump will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to Make America Great Again,” the representative said in reference to Trump’s failure to succeed in the cases.
Trump was similarly unsuccessful with the Second Circuit when he appealed in December 2024. In June 2025, the court rejected an en banc review where all the judges on the court would have examined the case. Trump’s assertion was that the initial trial judge was improper when other women who alleged he had also behaved inappropriately with them were allowed to offer testimony.
The SCOTUS was the last stop for Trump, and now that the Court has declined the appeal, there is no longer any hope that the ruling can be overturned.
In her Substack, Carroll celebrated the SCOTUS’ rejection of the case, calling it a win for all women.
