President Donald Trump requested a stay of the $83.3 million judgment in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case. The move comes as he seeks an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Carroll’s team does not oppose the stay if Trump increases the bond by about $7.46 million. “This Court should now stay the mandate to allow President Trump to present important questions relating to, without limitation, Presidential immunity and the Westfall Act to the Supreme Court,” the filing from Trump’s lawyer read. “Carroll does not oppose this motion.”
“Absent a stay, President Trump will suffer ongoing irreparable harm due to violation of his right to immunity from this defamation suit for his official statements as President of the United States of America,” Trump’s lawyer, Justin Smith, wrote. It notes that President Trump “respectfully asks the Court to stay the mandate until the Supreme Court’s final disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari.”
“There is a ‘fair prospect’ that the Supreme Court will reverse the Panel’s erroneous decisions that Presidential immunity and the Westfall Act were both waived,” Trump’s lawyers continued. “Issuing the mandate and permitting lower court proceedings to move forward during Supreme Court review of these significant questions would ‘eviscerate the immunity [the Supreme Court has] recognized,’ as well as create a likely inability to recover funds if the Supreme Court reverses, as it should.”
The new filing comes as a federal appeals court rejected President Trump’s request to rehear his appeal of the verdict in a defamation case with Carroll. “Following disposition of this appeal on September 8, 2025, an active judge of the Court requested a poll on whether to rehear the case en banc. A poll having been conducted and there being no majority favoring en banc review, the petitions for rehearing en banc are hereby DENIED,” the order says.
