The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s long-shot request to reconsider taking up his appeal in one of the two civil cases he lost to E. Jean Carroll.
The denial was expected because the court rarely grants such rehearing requests, and none of the justices had indicated interest in taking his case when they denied his initial petition in June.
The rejection came in his appeal of the $5 million judgment that Carroll won after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing her in 1996 and defaming her about it in 2022, between his two presidential terms.
The high court denial appeared on a routine order list, where the court announced the latest action on pending petitions, including many other denials. As is typical for such orders, there was no explanation for it.
Trump still has a separate petition pending before the Supreme Court in the other case Carroll won against him, in which a jury awarded her $83.3 million in defamation damages over statements he made in 2019, during his first term in office. The justices likely will not announce whether they will review that one until the fall, at least. It raises different legal issues than the $5 million case, including presidential immunity.
After the justices declined to review Trump’s initial petition in the $5 million case in June, the federal judge in New York who presided over the case ordered the funds released to Carroll. Yet Trump argued that the release was premature because he still had his Supreme Court rehearing petition pending, and he urged the New York-based appeals court to order the funds returned to a court-controlled account in the meantime.
Over Trump’s objection, the appeals court said it would put off weighing in on his clawback motion until Tuesday, due to the possibility of the high court acting on the rehearing petition Monday, which it now has. The denial should make Trump’s clawback motion a moot point, effectively ending the litigation as to the $5 million judgment and keeping those funds in Carroll’s control.
Either way, the fate of the $83.3 million judgment remains pending. Carroll will have an opportunity to argue in writing to the justices why they should reject that petition as well. But they aren’t on any deadline to make that decision. It takes four justices to grant review.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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