Trump asks Supreme Court to void $83 million E. Jean Carroll verdict

President Trump and the Department of Justice are asking the Supreme Court to review the $83.3 million defamation award won by writer E. Jean Carroll, arguing that his public denials of her sexual assault allegation were made within the scope of his official role and should not expose him to personal liability. The dispute centers on whether the Westfall Act allows the federal government to step in as the defendant, which could shift any damages obligation from Trump to taxpayers. The petitions follow lower-court rulings rejecting both the substitution effort and Trump's presidential immunity defense. The Justice Department told the court that, without intervention, "the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office," while Trump's personal attorneys argued that presidential responses to accusations bearing on fitness for office are "plainly official." Carroll sued Trump after he denied her accusation that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. At a first trial, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll in 2022, awarding her $5 million; the Supreme Court last month declined to hear his appeal in that case, and the money has since been transferred to Carroll's law firm. The current fight concerns a second trial in which Carroll won an additional $83.3 million over statements Trump made while president. The administration's renewed push also revives a Westfall Act strategy first pursued during Trump's first term, abandoned by the Biden-era Justice Department in 2023, and now reasserted after Trump's return to the White House.