The US Supreme Court on June 29, 2026, declined to hear former President Donald Trump's appeal seeking to overturn a $5 million civil verdict in favor of E Jean Carroll [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
A New York jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and for defaming her by calling her accusations a hoax, awarding her $5 million in damages [1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Carroll accused Trump of sexual abuse around 1996, saying it happened in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room [1, 2, 4, 7, 5].
Trump has denied the allegations since Carroll first went public with her claims in 2019 and argued during the trial that evidence of his past sexual misconduct should not have been admitted [1, 6, 2, 3, 4]. After the verdict, Trump called the case “fake” and vowed to continue fighting, saying, "I will continue to fight against this weaponization and lawfare case including the ridiculous claim of defamation, with all of my power and strength" [6, 8, 5].
A federal appeals court upheld the jury ruling in 2024, rejecting all of Trump's procedural challenges and other appeals [1, 4, 9, 10, 5]. Meanwhile, a separate defamation case filed by Carroll in January 2024 resulted in an $83.3 million award, which Trump is also appealing [6, 3, 4, 7].
Following the Supreme Court's decision, Carroll filed a motion on July 1, 2026, requesting that Trump be ordered to pay the $5 million verdict plus accumulated interest totaling approximately $5.8 million [6, 8, 7, 11]. Carroll’s attorneys said, “Given the extraordinary lengths he has taken to avoid such payments and that each of those efforts has been denied in full, that cooperation ends today. It is time for him to pay Carroll” [6].
Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed to expedite the payment process by ordering Trump's legal team to respond by July 7, 2026 [8, 7, 11]. He stated, "I agree that Carroll could pursue the payment on an expedited basis and order a response from Trump's legal team by July 7" [7].
Roberta Kaplan, one of Carroll’s lawyers, said the Supreme Court's move "ultimately affirms the unanimous jury verdict finding that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed E Jean Carroll" [5]. Trump continues to maintain his denials publicly on social media, calling the accusations and verdict politically motivated [6, 8, 5].
