E. Jean Carroll Beats Trump Again As Appeals Court Rejects Presidential Immunity Claim

Trump tried to claim presidential immunity to avoid paying E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million, but a federal appeals court rejected his immunity claim.

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Donald Trump’s net worth has more than doubled during the first year of his second term, largely due to the crypto scheme that he has been running, but this has stopped Trump from trying to get out of paying the $83.3 million that he owes E. Jean Carroll for defaming her.

The judgment is still being appealed by Trump.

On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled against Trump’s claims that his defamation is covered by presidential immunity and that the award to Carroll was excessive.

The federal appeals court wrote in its decision:

The present appeal is from the judgment in Carroll I. Although a panel of this Court has already rejected Trump's claim of presidential immunity, see Carroll v. Trump, 88 F.4th 418 (2d Cir. 2023) ("Carroll 3") (Cabranes, J.), 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. 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. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

The court then spent the following 66 pages of its decision knocking down Trump’s arguments.

Courts have determined previously that Trump's defamation of E. Jean Carroll was not an official act of the presidency, so it would not be covered under any presidential immunity claims.

However, thanks to the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, Trump believes that he has unlimited immunity, so he constantly attempts to assert presidential immunity for everything.

E. Jean Carroll is the one private citizen in America who has been consistently able to defeat Trump. The Carroll case is why Trump is an adjudicated rapist and carries that label everywhere he goes for the rest of his life.

What do you think about Carroll winning again? Join the conversation in the comments below.