The Supreme Court unanimously declined Trump's appeal of the $5M Carroll sexual abuse and defamation verdict, finalizing the judgment as a second Carroll petition remains pending.
The Supreme Court on June 29, 2026, denied Donald Trump's petition for certiorari seeking review of the $5 million jury verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll [1]. The Court issued no written opinion and no justice noted a dissent from the denial, leaving the verdict fully intact [2]. The ruling closes off Trump's last avenue of federal appellate review on that judgment.
The underlying verdict dates to May 2023, when a Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation after Carroll testified that Trump assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s and subsequently made false public statements denying it [2]. Carroll's legal team, led by attorney Roberta Kaplan, pursued the action in the Southern District of New York under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily revived time-barred civil claims [1]. The Second Circuit affirmed the verdict before Trump sought Supreme Court review.
A cert denial carries no precedential weight as a merits ruling, but its practical consequences are concrete. The $5 million judgment against a sitting president for sexual abuse and defamation now stands as a final civil judgment, collectible without further legal obstacle on that docket [1]. The denial also signals the Court's current posture toward the Carroll litigation more broadly. Trump has a separate pending petition asking the Court to review the $83.3 million defamation verdict the same Manhattan jury returned in January 2024, after Carroll sued over statements Trump made while he was out of office [2]. The June 29 denial, unanimous and uncommented, offers no guarantee about the outcome of that second petition, but it eliminates any argument that the Court viewed the Carroll litigation as a vehicle for broader intervention.
The two Carroll cases now proceed on parallel tracks. The first judgment is final. The second petition remains under consideration, and the Court could grant, deny, or request a response from Carroll's counsel before acting [1]. Trump's legal team will face pressure to identify a cognizable federal question, distinct from those already rejected implicitly by the cert denial, to justify review of the larger award. Carroll's attorneys have consistently argued that no such question exists and that the verdicts rest on settled defamation and tort law. A ruling on the second petition is expected before the Court's next term begins in October 2026 [2].