Supreme Court Refuses to Reconsider $5M Carroll Verdict, Cementing One Judgment While a Separate $83M Award Remains Pending
On Aug. 17, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined President Donald Trump's request to reconsider a $5 million civil judgment in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll, making that award final while a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment remains under appeal.
On August 17, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a renewed request from President Donald Trump to reconsider its prior refusal to hear his appeal of a jury verdict that had found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The court provided no substantive opinion, leaving the lower-court judgment intact.
The disputed verdict stems from a 2023 civil trial in which a jury awarded Carroll damages after concluding that Trump sexually abused her in the 1990s and later defamed her when he publicly rejected her account. With interest, the first judgment that the Supreme Court left undisturbed totaled roughly $5.6 million; court records and reporting show the funds were ordered released and were disbursed in July after Trump exhausted the appeals available on that particular award.
Trump’s legal team had repeatedly sought to delay or undo the payout, asking the high court first to hear his appeal and then to reconsider its earlier decision not to take the case. The Supreme Court’s refusal on Aug. 17 was the latest procedural blow to those efforts and ended further review avenues for that specific judgment in the federal courts.
The litigation between Carroll and Trump remains broader than the $5.6 million payment. A separate January 2024 jury verdict awarded Carroll about $83.3 million in damages for later statements the jury found to be defamatory. That larger judgment is still the subject of appeals and a pending petition to the Supreme Court; Trump’s lawyers argue the statements at issue were tied to his official duties and raise immunity and other legal issues.
Legal outlets and court filings show the two Carroll judgments occupy different procedural postures: the smaller award has been cleared for distribution after appeals were exhausted, while the $83.3 million judgment has been stayed in part, accompanied by complex bond and procedural filings as the appeals process continues and as the Supreme Court considers whether to take up the larger case.
The Supreme Court’s terse action on Aug. 17 is legally significant because a denial to reconsider is not a merits ruling — it leaves intact lower-court findings but does not create new precedent. Still, in practical terms the decision resolves the immediate dispute over the $5.6 million award and highlights the separate, unresolved high-stakes fight over the larger defamation judgment.
Politically, the outcome gives Democrats and Carroll’s supporters a concrete court-validated result to cite, while Trump allies have framed the decisions and continued appeals as part of a broader effort to contest what they call politically motivated litigation. Legal observers say the next, potentially dispositive step will be whether the Supreme Court accepts or rejects review of the $83.3 million judgment and any related questions about presidential immunity.
Why it matters
The Supreme Court’s refusal to reopen the $5 million matter makes that verdict effectively final and underscores how the judiciary — not voters or Congress — is determining the immediate enforceability of high-profile civil judgments involving a sitting president; at the same time, the unresolved $83.3 million award could still produce a major legal ruling on presidential immunity and the limits of civil liability for statements made while in office.
What to watch
Watch for whether the Supreme Court grants review of the separate $83.3 million defamation judgment, any new filings about bonds or stays that would delay collection, and related Justice Department or appellate filings that could raise immunity or substitution arguments — each step could reshape both the legal exposure of the president and the political messaging heading into the fall.