Who Is E. Jean Carroll? Writer Who Won Final Supreme Court Fight Over Trump Sexual Abuse Verdict

She walked into a Manhattan courtroom in 2023 and opened her testimony with six words that would travel through every level of the American judicial system: 'I'm here because Donald Trump raped me.'

On 29 June 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States gave that claim its most authoritative legal backing to date, refusing to hear Trump's final appeal. The justices' decision left intact a 2023 jury verdict and a £3.9 million ($5 million) civil judgement, issued an unsigned order with no dissents and offered no explanation, in line with the court's standard practice for declined cases.

Carroll, 82, responded on her Substack in capital letters: 'WE WON! THIS WIN IS FOR EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD!' She is the only person whose allegation of sexual assault against Donald Trump has been upheld as legally credible at every court that has considered it.

A Career Built on Other People's Questions

Elizabeth Jean Carroll was born on 12 December 1943 and built a career as a journalist, author and advice columnist. Her 'Ask E. Jean' column appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 through 2019, becoming one of the longest‑running advice columns in American publishing.

The column was her calling card, direct, witty and firmly on the side of women who needed someone to tell them the truth. Before her tenure at Elle, Carroll wrote for Saturday Night Live's twelfth season and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. She also served as the host and producer of the Ask E. Jean television series, which aired on NBC's America's Talking, the predecessor to MSNBC.

When Elle declined to renew her contract in late 2019, Carroll publicly attributed the decision to reputational damage caused by Trump's public attacks after she came forward. Elle maintained the choice was unrelated. Whatever the reason, 26 years of 'Ask E. Jean' ended just as the most consequential chapter of her life was beginning.

The Dressing Room Encounter That Defined The Case

Carroll has described the encounter that changed her life in both deposition testimony and at trial. She says she ran into Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in late 1995 or early 1996. He recognised her as an advice columnist and asked her to help him choose a gift. What began as banter about handbags shifted when the two ended up in a dressing room.

'It's all one action,' Carroll testified in her deposition. 'I stepped into the room, the door was banged closed and he pushed me up against the wall.' At trial, she told the jury: 'He immediately shut the door and shoved me so hard my head banged. My whole reason for being alive at that moment was to get out of that room.'

She testified that Trump raped her, that the assault lasted under three minutes, and that she left the store immediately afterwards, telling two friends what had happened within days. Both later testified at trial on her behalf.

For decades she told almost no one else, saying she feared Trump would retaliate. She did not go public until June 2019. Trump denied the allegation instantly, saying she was 'not my type' and had fabricated the story to sell books, despite photographs showing the two of them together at a social event years earlier.

The Verdicts and the Supreme Court's Final Word

Carroll filed two related civil lawsuits. The second, filed in 2022 under New York's Adult Survivors Act, legislation reopening civil courts to historical sexual assault claims, was the first to reach trial. Trump did not attend the 2023 civil trial and his attorneys called no witnesses before the jury awarded Carroll £3.9 million ($5 million).

The jury of six men and three women deliberated for less than three hours. The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll when he publicly denied her allegation.

A jury also awarded Carroll an additional £65.4 million ($83.3 million) after a second defamation trial. Trump is also appealing that ruling.

Trump's legal team argued the first trial was tainted by what they called 'highly inflammatory' evidentiary rulings, specifically those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in upholding the verdict, concluded the evidence helped establish 'a repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct consistent with what Ms Carroll alleged', finding that 'in each of the three encounters, Mr Trump engaged in an ordinary conversation with a woman he barely knew, then abruptly lunged at her in a semi-public place.'

The Second Circuit denied Trump's appeal in December 2024 and in June 2025 rejected a request for en banc review. The Supreme Court was his last avenue. It closed on 29 June 2026.

Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement: 'Today's Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury's unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll.

His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today's ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.' Trump posted on social media that the case was 'fake' and vowed to fight it 'with all of my power and strength'. His legal team called Carroll's cases 'hoaxes' and a 'Democrat-funded travesty.'

The larger £65.4 million ($83.3 million) defamation judgement from the 2024 trial remains contested, with Trump's attorneys signalling they will seek Supreme Court review on presidential immunity grounds.

Carroll also faces a separate front: the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation focused on a trust founded by billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, whose nonprofit helped pay some of Carroll's legal costs, examining allegations of possible money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy.

A possible perjury charge related to Carroll's deposition testimony is also under review. No charges have been filed.

One chapter is now sealed. Further legal battles for both Carroll and Trump are still possible.