A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an $83.3 million defamation judgment against former President Donald Trump in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll, rejecting his attempt to shield himself with presidential immunity.
The Second Circuit panel unanimously ruled that Trump’s immunity arguments came too late, affirming the jury’s decision that the multimillion-dollar award was “fair and reasonable.”
Carroll, a longtime columnist, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump denied the allegations in 2019, prompting Carroll to sue him for defamation.
This decision follows an earlier case in which the same court upheld a $5 million award against Trump after a jury found that he had sexually assaulted Carroll and later defamed her.
Trump sought to revisit the immunity issue after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that presidents are broadly protected from criminal prosecution for official acts. However, the Second Circuit said that precedent did not alter its earlier decision.
“We conclude that Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity,” the panel wrote.
