A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a $83.3 million judgment against President Trump for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.

“Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity. We also conclude that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable,” the ruling read, according to ABC News.

Trump argued the $83.3 million jury award was excessive and invalid.

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The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected Trump’s argument that he was entitled to presidential immunity when he made the statements about Carroll. The appellate court also rejected Trump’s argument the jury’s damages were excessive.

The three-judge panel decided “Trump acted with, at a minimum, reckless disregard for the truth” when he called Carroll a liar and said she’s not his type. The panel said the $18.3 million the jury awarded Carroll in compensatory damages was fair.

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“After Trump released his statements, which were viewed by between 85.8 to 104 million people, Carroll was instantly and continuously attacked on Twitter and Facebook and in emails. She received thousands of such attacks, including hundreds of death threats,” the opinion said.

The panel also rejected Trump’s argument the punitive damage award of $65 million was grossly excessive.

According to CNBC, Trump’s lawyers indicated they would soon ask the Supreme Court to overturn a verdict in a separate civil case Carroll filed against Trump.

Carroll was awarded $5 million in that case.

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CNBC noted:

In his appeal of the first case, known as Carroll I — which was filed first but went to trial second — Trump had argued that a lower court was wrong to bar his lawyers from relitigating whether his statements about Carroll were true or false.

In Monday’s ruling, the appellate judges disagreed.

While Carroll I centered on claims Trump made in 2019 and Carroll II focused on claims he made in 2022, “the statements were identical in material respects because both accused Carroll of fabricating the sexual assault allegations for improper purposes,” they wrote.

The judges added, “The jury in Carroll II decided that Carroll was telling the truth.”

They also rejected Trump’s argument that a Supreme Court decision in July 2024 — which granted former presidents presumptive immunity for “official acts” and other protections — cast doubt on the Second Circuit’s prior dismissal of his immunity claims.

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Trump “submits that [the Supreme Court case, Trump v. United States,] represents a sufficient intervening change of law and that enforcing our prior decision on immunity would work a manifest injustice in light of that change.”

“We are not persuaded,” the judges wrote.

 

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