Trump Asks Supreme Court To Void E. Jean Carroll’s $83 Million Verdict Imposed for ‘Extraordinary and Egregious’ Defamation

President Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court of the $83 million verdict secured against him by the advice journalist E. Jean Carroll underscores the extent to which the 47th president — a billionaire —is set against paying a woman who has thus far bested him in court. “This is the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a president for his conduct in office,” Mr. Trump writes in his push to throw out the verdict. The Supreme Court, which is on summer recess, will likely turn to the petition in late September.Four justices need to assent for certiorari to be granted. Mr. Trump has already paid Ms. Carrol $5.6 million for a separate defamation verdict that also found him liable for sexually abusing — but not raping — her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room sometime in the 1990s. The Supreme Court earlier this month denied Mr. Trump’s petition to review the $5 million verdictThe two verdicts plus interest accrued means that Mr. Trump’s total obligation to Ms. Carroll sits north of $100 million. His argument to the Nine to review the larger chunk of that turns on two points. First, he contends that the comments that resulted in the $83 million judgment were made under the overhang of presidential immunity. Second, he argues that his office means that the Department of Justice ought to assume liability in the case.The gargantuan verdict was imposed after Mr. Trump called Ms. Carroll a “hoax,” “con job,” and “complete scam.” He also said that she was “totally lying” and that “she’s not my type.” He also declared that “I have no idea who this woman is” despite a photograph showing them together with his then-wife, Ivana Trump. The Second Circuit reckoned that the $83 million verdict was “reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts.” A panel of the Second Circuit, in a unanimous vote, reckoned that “The fact of the matter is that no other defendant would be permitted to move to substitute the United States in his place. ” The Westphal Act allows government actors to avoid liability for common law torts. If the Justice Department assumed responsibility in this case, Ms. Carroll would be unable to collect because the government cannot be held liable for defamation. The Second Circuit also refused Mr. Trump’s request to have his petition considered by the court’s full complement, a stage of review called an en banc hearing. That decision, though, was not unanimous — three circuit riders dissented. One of them, Judge Steven Menashi, a former New York Sun editorial writer, called the amount awarded to Ms. Carroll a “grossly excessive monetary figure for a defamation claim.”The center of Mr. Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court is his claim of presidential immunity. His petition leans on the justices’ ruling in Trump v. United States that official presidential actions are immune from prosecution, while unofficial ones are bereft of that protection. Some acts in the heartland of presidential responsibility — like the pardon power — enjoy “absolute” immunity.Mr. Trump’s petition declares that the “President of the United States has been ordered to pay nearly $100 million in damages — including post-judgment interest — for issuing a press release and answering reporters’ questions, from the White House, defending against attacks on his fitness for office.” The Supreme Court held in Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) and Clinton v. Jones (1997) that presidents have absolute civil damages immunity only for official acts within the “outer perimeter” of their official duties.While the Supreme Court handed the president a landmark victory in Trump v. United States, it declined to intervene when, in the days before his second inauguration, he asked the justices to delay his sentencing in the hush money case brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the liberals in that case. Mr. Trump was eventually sentenced to only an “unconditional discharge.”

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Void E. Jean Carroll’s $83 Million Verdict Imposed for ‘Extraordinary and Egregious’ Defamation

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