The gavel won’t be lifted again—at least not yet.
A federal appeals court in Manhattan has firmly shut the door on Donald Trump’s bid to undo the $5 million civil judgment awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll, whose decades-old accusation of sexual abuse and defamation against the former president has now withstood yet another legal challenge.
In a lopsided 8-2 vote, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by a prior three-judge panel’s ruling that upheld the jury’s verdict. Trump, who turns 79 this week and remains embroiled in multiple legal storms, had been hoping for a second shot at dismantling the case.
Carroll, now 81, claimed that Trump assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room sometime in 1996 and later defamed her on social media in 2022. In court, Trump had doubled down on a public defense familiar to many: deny, discredit, and distance. She wasn’t his “type,” he said, and accused her of spinning fiction to sell books.
But the jury saw it differently.
They found him liable—not for rape, but for sexual assault—and concluded he had lied in an effort to damage her reputation. That added up to a $5 million payout, split nearly evenly between defamation and assault damages.
Still unresolved is a separate $83.3 million judgment from another Carroll defamation case, currently pending review. Arguments in that matter are expected to be heard on June 24, and if Trump loses again, he’s likely to escalate the $5 million verdict all the way to the Supreme Court.
Despite the legal weight stacking up, Trump’s team continues to frame the Carroll suits as part of a politically motivated siege. A spokesperson reiterated familiar refrains about “witch hunts” and “hoaxes” allegedly bankrolled by political enemies.
Carroll’s attorney, on the other hand, sounded almost surgical in her satisfaction: “President Trump continues to try every possible maneuver,” she said. “Those efforts have failed.”
Not everyone on the appellate bench agreed. Judges Steven Menashi and Michael Park—both Trump appointees—broke ranks with their colleagues. They questioned the relevance of old allegations and criticized the use of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in court. Menashi even suggested that Trump’s comments could have been made without actual malice if he truly believed Carroll’s lawsuit was politically driven.
Trump has denied similar allegations from two other women—businesswoman Jessica Leeds and journalist Natasha Stoynoff—whose testimony was also introduced during trial.
Adding another layer of legal intrigue, Trump’s team has argued that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity should shield him from liability in Carroll’s civil case. That immunity claim, if accepted, could send ripples through a wide swath of his legal entanglements.
But for now, the $5 million verdict stands tall. The court has spoken. Again.
