The E. Jean Carroll verdict is now permanent. The Supreme Court has again refused to take up President Trump’s effort to undo a jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused and then defamed the writer, closing off the last available avenue of appeal in that case.

It was the second rejection this year. The justices had already declined to disturb the civil verdict in late June, and Monday’s action turned away a follow-up request for rehearing.

What the Court Did — and Didn’t Say

As is standard practice, the justices offered no explanation for declining the case. Denials of certiorari rarely come with reasoning attached, and no dissent or comment accompanied this one.

After the June rejection, Trump’s legal team filed a petition for rehearing, pointing to his separate immunity challenge as grounds for the court to revisit the matter. That argument did not persuade the justices to change course.

The Money Has Already Changed Hands

Carroll received the more than $5 million she was owed earlier this year, after a lengthy delay caused by the ongoing appeals. Her attorneys said at the time that the funds would sit in an interest-bearing account until Trump’s petition was resolved one way or the other.

With the denial now issued, that condition has been satisfied.

Two Very Different Reactions

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team dismissed the outcome in a statement to Axios, characterizing the litigation as a Democrat-funded travesty and referring to the claims as hoaxes.

Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, welcomed the decision. She emphasized what it means procedurally: the jury’s unanimous finding that Trump sexually assaulted and subsequently defamed her client is now final and can no longer be challenged in any court.

That last phrase is the substantive point. A verdict that survives every level of appellate review becomes a settled legal fact rather than a contested allegation.

How the Cases Began

Carroll’s claims trace back to an alleged assault at a New York department store in the mid-1990s. The litigation grew out of both that incident and Trump’s public responses to it.

The sequence unfolded as follows:

• In 2019, Carroll sued for defamation over statements accusing her of inventing the story.
• In 2022, she filed a second suit alleging sexual assault along with defamation tied to another Trump statement.
• The 2022 case reached trial first. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable and awarded $5 million.
• A jury in the earlier defamation case later awarded her $83.3 million.

The ordering is worth noting: the case filed second was resolved first, and its outcome shaped the landscape for the remaining claim.

The Larger Judgment Is Still Contested

While the $5 million matter is finished, the $83.3 million defamation award is not. Trump’s attorneys lost their appeal of that judgment before a federal appeals court and have now asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

Their central argument is presidential immunity. As Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt has detailed, the position holds that Trump cannot be held liable for statements made during his time in office.

That theory raises questions courts have not fully answered. Immunity doctrines have historically protected officials for actions taken within the scope of their duties, and whether public denials of a personal accusation fall inside that scope is precisely what is in dispute.

Why the Two Outcomes Differ

The distinction between the finished case and the ongoing one comes down to legal theory rather than facts. The $5 million verdict rested on findings the courts have now declined to reexamine. The larger award involves statements made at a different time and under different circumstances, giving Trump’s lawyers a separate argument to advance.

Whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear that challenge remains open. Its repeated refusals in the related matter offer no guarantee about how it will treat a question framed around executive immunity, which raises institutional issues the court has shown more willingness to engage.

Where Things Stand

For Carroll, one chapter has definitively closed. The finding of sexual abuse and defamation stands as a matter of record, and the compensation has been paid and released.

For Trump, a substantially larger judgment remains unresolved, resting on an immunity argument that has yet to receive a hearing at the nation’s highest court.