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Trump Asks Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3 Million Award in Carroll Defamation Case

Court dockets and news reports show a petition seeking reversal of the $83.3 million award; petitioners argue presidential immunity and other legal defects, and the high court recently declined a related appeal of a $5 million verdict.

By Freedom News Staff • Freedom News • July 29, 2026

President Donald J. Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn a roughly $83.3 million defamation judgment awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll, according to court docket entries and multiple news organizations. The petition, reflected in Supreme Court docket filings and reported by news outlets on July 28–29, 2026, asks the justices to revisit an appeals‑court ruling that upheld the award; Axios reported the filing presses a presidential‑immunity defense. CNBC and NBC reported that the Justice Department joined the filing.

What the petition asks the Supreme Court to do

Court docket entries and news reporting show Trump’s lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to review and to vacate or reverse the $83.3 million defamation judgment entered in favor of E. Jean Carroll.

Reporting by Axios and others says the petition advances a presidential‑immunity argument, contending that statements made while he was in office were protected from individual liability and that the appeals court did not properly resolve immunity questions. CNBC and NBC published accounts saying the Department of Justice joined the high‑court filing; those outlets reported the DOJ has sought substitution of the United States as the defendant under the Westfall Act in related filings, an argument the department pursued in earlier phases of the litigation.

Background: two separate verdicts and a long appeals path

Carroll has won two separate federal jury judgments against Trump arising from her allegations of sexual assault and subsequent public statements: a 2023 jury awarded roughly $5 million, and a second proceeding in January 2024 produced the larger $83.3 million defamation award tied to statements Trump made in 2019 denying Carroll’s allegation.

The Second Circuit has affirmed both judgments. On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s challenge to the roughly $5 million verdict; the new petition filed this month targets the 2024 defamation judgment that produced the $83.3 million award.

Legal arguments and stakes

Trump’s petition, as described in reporting, presses a presidential‑immunity argument and also challenges other legal rulings that led to the damage award.

The Justice Department’s reported involvement, if confirmed as a formal filing with the Solicitor General, could signal an effort to substitute the United States as the defendant under the Westfall Act or to place federal‑immunity issues before the Court. Those procedural and constitutional questions would have implications beyond this lawsuit because they touch on the scope of civil liability for conduct by a president.

What to watch next

If the petition is docketed publicly, the Supreme Court may post the filing and set a timetable for responses from Carroll’s lawyers and any brief from the Solicitor General; the Court could deny review, call for a response, or — far less commonly — agree to hear the case on the merits.

Observers will watch for motions in lower courts seeking stays of enforcement while certiorari is pending, additional DOJ filings clarifying whether the United States is a co‑petitioner or a supporting friend of the court, and any clarification of how the $83.3 million award is broken down among compensatory damages, punitive damages, fees or accrued interest.

Sources reviewed