Legal Intelligence

Supreme Court Declines Trump Appeal of $5 Million Carroll Award

The court's second refusal to reconsider the liability verdict leaves the $5 million judgment intact while a separate, larger 2024 award remains under active appeal, creating two parallel legal...

The Congressional Times · August 17, 2026

The Supreme Court declined for the second time to reconsider President Donald Trump's appeal of a $5 million civil judgment stemming from the E. Jean Carroll case, according to reporting by The New York Times published August 17, 2026. The court offered no written explanation for the denial, which is standard practice when justices decline to hear discretionary appeals.

The $5 million award was the product of a 2023 federal civil jury verdict in the Southern District of New York. That jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a case brought by Carroll under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York state law that temporarily opened a window for survivors to file civil claims regardless of statutes of limitations. The jury's finding of liability and the dollar amount are a matter of public court record in Carroll v. Trump, Case No. 22-cv-10016 (S.D.N.Y.).

Trump has filed a separate appeal seeking to overturn a second, larger award issued in 2024. That case also arose from defamation claims Carroll filed after Trump publicly disputed the original jury's findings. The dollar figure of the 2024 award and its current appellate posture would be reflected in the relevant Southern District of New York docket and any subsequent Second Circuit filings. The New York Times reported that this second appeal remains pending before the court.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) separately addressed internal Democratic Party dynamics on Sunday, distancing himself from the policy agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America while stating that any DSA-backed candidates who win general elections in the 2026 midterms would be seated within the House Democratic caucus, according to the Washington Examiner. That position illustrates the ongoing tension between establishment and progressive factions heading into the midterm cycle.

What remains unknown in the Carroll litigation is the precise schedule and legal arguments governing the pending 2024 appeal. The full appellate briefing, including any amicus filings and the government's position, would be contained in the public docket of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the relevant circuit or in Supreme Court case filings, which are accessible through the court's public docket system.

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