Appeals court upholds $83M verdict against Trump as it rejects immunity claim

The US Court of Appeals has upheld E. Jean Carroll's $83 million defamation verdict against President Donald Trump, Lawfare's Roger Parloff cited on X.

Carroll successfully sued Trump for defamation in 2024 after he claimed her allegations of sexual assault were false and that she was lying. He was found liable of sexual abuse in a separate civil case.

It was the second defamation trial — the first, in 2023, resulted in $5 million in damages being awarded against Trump.

In a 70-page unanimous ruling the panel rejected Trump's attempts to claim presidential immunity protected him from the finding of liability.

"The present appeal is from the judgment in [the first Carroll case]. Although a panel of this Court has already rejected Trump's claim of presidential immunity," the court wrote, citing the case. "Trump now argues that the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024), warrants reconsideration of our prior decision. He also challenges the district court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of Carroll, its striking a portion of his testimony, its jury instructions on punitive damages, and the size of the jury's compensatory and punitive awards."

"For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity," the court continued.

Read the full ruling here.