A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump does not have to pay the $83 million defamation judgment to writer E. Jean Carroll while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to accept his appeal.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of the judgment, halting enforcement of the award. The court required Trump to post a $7.4 million bond to cover any interest that may accumulate during the delay, a condition Carroll’s attorney had requested.
Trump’s attorney, Justin D. Smith, sought the stay after the full 2nd Circuit declined last month to rehear the case before all its judges. A three-judge panel of the court had affirmed the January 2024 jury verdict last September. Smith argued in court filings that there was a “fair prospect” the Supreme Court would ultimately rule in Trump’s favor.
Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations throughout the proceedings, calling them a “made up scam” driven by political or commercial motivations.
The $83 million defamation award came from a January 2024 jury verdict. A separate jury had already ruled in May 2023 that Trump sexually abused Carroll in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in 1996, awarding her $5 million in that earlier case. The $83 million followed from a distinct trial focused entirely on defamation damages stemming from Trump’s repeated public denials.
In upholding the larger verdict last September, the 2nd Circuit panel wrote that Trump “continued his attacks against Carroll for at least five years, making them more extreme and frequent as the trial approached.” The court noted he continued those statements during the trial itself, including a remark issued two days in that he would defame Carroll “a thousand times.”
Carroll, 82, first made the assault allegation publicly in a 2019 memoir. Trump has argued his denials of her account constituted protected speech and that statements made while serving as president are covered by “absolute immunity.” Those arguments are the foundation of his planned Supreme Court petition.
No formal petition has been filed with the high court. The $7.4 million bond must be posted in the meantime. If the Supreme Court declines to take the case, payment of the full $83 million judgment would resume.
