On December 30, 2024, a federal appeals court dismissed an appeal by Donald Trump to overturn a $5 million judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll. This ruling represents another significant legal blow to the President-elect.
The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, New York City, upheld the civil verdict from May 9, 2023. The court concurred with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s view that there were no errors in allowing testimonies from other women who made similar claims against Trump or in letting jurors watch the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump described grabbing women inappropriately.
The initial lawsuit originated from Carroll’s claim that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City in 1996. Evidence presented during the trial included Carroll’s immediate disclosure of the incident to two friends and testimonies from other women who recounted similar experiences with Trump.
The jury granted Carroll $2 million in compensatory damages for sexual abuse and $3 million for defamation after Trump labeled her accusations as a “complete con job” and “a hoax and a lie” on his Truth Social platform. While the jury did not find Trump guilty of rape under New York’s stringent legal definition, the appeals court pointed out that they had “implicitly found” that Trump had digitally assaulted Carroll.
At the original trial, testimonies were heard from two additional women who related similar experiences with Trump. Jessica Leeds testified that Trump groped her on a plane in the 1970s, and Natasha Stoynoff, a former writer for People magazine, claimed that Trump forcefully kissed her during a 2005 interview at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida.
The appeals court dismissed Trump’s objections to the evidence and testimonies presented during the trial. The three-judge panel agreed with Judge Kaplan’s rulings and found that Trump was unable to demonstrate any errors that had infringed on his substantial rights.
Carroll first made her allegations public in 2019. Although the statute of limitations for criminal charges had lapsed, a 2022 New York law, the Adult Survivors Act, temporarily permitted victims of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits, regardless of when the alleged abuse took place.
This $5 million judgment is separate from another defamation case in January 2024 in which a different New York jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million. This larger award was determined after a jury concluded that Carroll’s reputation as an advice columnist was severely harmed when Trump consistently called her a liar following her 2019 public allegations.
Trump’s legal team contended that the damages were grossly excessive and alleged judicial bias. The appeals court, however, did not agree, finding no validity in Trump’s claims that his comments were merely political speech protected by the First Amendment.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s political adviser and spokesperson, reacted to the ruling by asserting that the American public had granted Trump an overwhelming mandate and called for an immediate cessation of the politicization of our justice system.
Trump’s legal team could seek further appeals to the full 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. This ruling comes after Trump’s recent $15 million settlement with ABC News over a separate defamation claim related to the Carroll case.
