Supreme Court Finalises $5M E. Jean Carroll Sexual Abuse Judgement Against Trump, Sets Stage for $83M Appeal Fight

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear President Donald Trump's appeal of the $5 million (£3.8 million) civil judgement that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s, leaving a sitting US president with a final court-affirmed finding of sexual misconduct.

An unsigned order issued on 29 June 2026 concluded a multi-year legal battle by Donald Trump's attorneys to overturn a 2023 Manhattan jury verdict. Despite this, a substantial separate defamation verdict from 2024 remains active in a lower federal appeals court. Combined with years of accumulated interest from both cases, Trump's total liability has exceeded $100 million (£76 million).

Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan said the ruling 'affirms once and for all the jury's unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll'. A spokesperson for Trump's legal team called the matter a 'Democrat-funded travesty' and said the president 'will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare'.

No Dissents From Trump's Own Appointees

The justices offered no explanation for declining the appeal, as is standard, and none of the nine wrote a dissent. That silence included all three of Trump's own appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Barrett's name carried added weight Monday. Hours earlier, she wrote the 5-4 majority opinion in Watson v. Republican National Committee, ruling that Mississippi may count mail-in ballots received up to five business days after Election Day if postmarked on time. Trump called that decision a 'tremendous loss' on Truth Social.

Trump's lawyers had pinned their Supreme Court bid on a federal evidence ruling, arguing that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrongly allowed jurors to hear from two other women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct and to view the 2005 'Access Hollywood' tape. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments last year.

$83 Million Defamation Verdict Still in Play

Carroll's second case, a 2024 defamation verdict worth $83.3 million (£63 million), remains on appeal at a lower federal court and is expected to reach the justices within weeks, Trump's lawyers said in a 2 June letter.

That second case rests on the same evidentiary foundation the high court just declined to disturb. The 2023 jury's finding bound the 2024 jury, which only had to decide damages.

Trump transferred $5.5 million (£4.2 million) to a court-controlled account in 2023, and Carroll is likely to receive the funds within days, according to her attorneys.

Justice Department Probe of Carroll Casts a Shadow

The ruling lands following a media firestorm in late May 2026, when CNN reported that the Department of Justice had opened a criminal perjury probe into Carroll over her civil testimony. Though the US Attorney's Office in Chicago swiftly issued a statement clarifying that it had never opened an investigation into Carroll, legal ethics scholars had already flagged the inquiry as an example of DOJ weaponisation against the president's legal adversaries.

Trump responded to Monday's order on Truth Social, calling the case a 'Fake Case' and claiming he had 'never met' Carroll, the same language his own lawyers urged him to stop using during earlier litigation that produced the $83.3 million award.

Why Workplace America Is Watching

The judgement is the first final, court-affirmed civil finding of sexual abuse against a sitting US president. Human resources lawyers say it will be cited for years in workplace harassment cases, particularly where executives face misconduct claims and respond with public denials.

The 2023 verdict was reached under New York's Adult Survivors Act, a one-year window that allowed civil claims for decades-old abuse. Several states have passed similar laws, and plaintiffs' attorneys say Monday's order strengthens those cases.