Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83.3 million award in E. Jean Carroll defamation case

Donald TrumpTrump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83.3 million award in E. Jean Carroll defamation caseLawyers for President Donald Trump argued that he had immunity for statements made while president.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00E. Jean Carroll federal court in New York City after Donald Trump appeared in court on Sept. 6, 2024.Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / APShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 28, 2026, 10:13 PM EDTBy Kyla GuilfoilPresident Donald Trump is again asking the Supreme Court to intervene in his yearslong legal battle with writer E. Jean Carroll, this time arguing that he should not have to pay an $83.3 million jury award on the grounds of presidential immunity. Lawyers for Trump urged the high court to review the case and consider overturning the jury’s ruling in 2024 that found he defamed Carroll after he repeatedly denied that he sexually abused her in a dressing room in 1996. “This is the first case in our Nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing, calling the $83.3 million award “exorbitant.” “If left standing, the decision below will cause significant damage, not only to this President and future Presidents, but also to ‘the Nation that the Presidency was designed to serve,’” they wrote. Carroll sued Trump in 2019 over allegations that he defamed her during his first term in office, including when he said she made up the allegations of sexual abuse to sell more copies of her upcoming book. Trump’s lawyers argued Tuesday that under the Westfall Act, a federal statute that protects government employees from certain lawsuits while they are engaged in their official duties, Trump should be able to swap out his name as the defendant in the case and replace it with the U.S. government. If it is applied, the act would essentially nullify Carroll’s case, since the U.S. government cannot be sued for defamation. “Here, the president of the Unit...