The United States Supreme Court has denied, for the second time, US President Donald Trump’s appeal of a 2023 civil suit stemming from allegations that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996.

The court’s August order list, released on Monday, rejected Trump’s request to reconsider its previous decision in June that denied his appeal of the 2023 verdict, which found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming the former magazine columnist.

“We are pleased that the United States Supreme Court has declined again to hear this case,” Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement. “As a result, the jury’s unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court.”

The court’s order came with no explanation, which is typical when the justices deny requests for rehearing during a recess. The order denied 33 requests in total.

After the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal in June, Carroll collected the $5 million judgement plus interest. The damages payout was ultimately about $5.8 million.

Carroll has won two separate defamation suits against Trump. Trump has been engaged in litigation with Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, since 2019, when she published an excerpt from her memoir alleging that Trump had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in 1996.

Trump denied her rape claim, calling her a “nut job” and saying she was “not my type”. A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million for that lawsuit in 2024. Trump is also appealing that judgement to the Supreme Court, arguing that presidential immunity protects statements he made while president.

The case that led to the $5 million verdict concerned Trump’s statements in 2022, when he called Carroll’s claim a “hoax” and a “con job” in a post on social media.

Source: www.aljazeera.com