US Supreme Court rejects Trump appeal over $5M sexual abuse, defamation verdict

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear US President Donald Trump's appeal of a $5 million jury verdict in a civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.

The justices denied the petition for a writ of certiorari without comment, leaving the lower court's ruling in place.

The decision preserves the outcome of the 2023 trial, in which a federal jury found the US president liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll following an encounter in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

The $5 million award stemmed from a civil proceeding rather than a criminal prosecution.

A denial of certiorari means the Supreme Court has refused to review a case brought before it. The appellate court's decision is considered final and does not endorse the lower court's decision; it simply indicates that the criteria for bringing the case to the Supreme Court's attention have not been met.

Carroll also filed a separate lawsuit against Trump, and a jury ordered that Trump compensate Carroll $83.3 million for making defamatory statements about her in 2019.

TRUMP VOWS TO FIGHT 'LAWFARE'

Trump reacted sharply to the Supreme Court's refusal to review his appeal in the civil case, which he has referred to as a "fake case."

"I will continue the fight against this weaponization and lawfare case against me, including the ridiculous claim of defamation, with all of my power and strength," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

The US president maintained that he had never met the plaintiff and argued that the legal challenge was actually an assault on the nation's foundations.

He alleged that New York State has enacted a "tailormade" law specifically to target him, asserting that such an "injustice" should never be permitted against any future president or candidate.