A federal appeals court has refused to grant a rare en banc hearing of Donald Trump’s appeal against the $83 million defamation verdict in favour of E Jean Carroll. The decision by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday came almost 18 months after Trump appealed following his 2024 election win.
The court was divided, with a majority of 12 judges voting against a rehearing before all active judges. Judge Denny Chin noted it was the fourth time the circuit had denied such a request. Trump’s appeal to the US Supreme Court remains pending.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said her client was “eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice”. Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case stems from Carroll’s 2019 memoir, in which she accused Trump of sexually abusing her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. Trump denied the claim, saying he had never met her and that she was “not my type”. A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding $5 million. A second jury in January 2024 awarded $83 million for defamation.
Three circuit judges voted for the full court to hear the appeal. In a dissent, Judge Steven J Menashi argued that the United States should have been substituted as the defendant and that Trump should have been able to claim presidential immunity. He described the proceedings as “a manifest miscarriage of justice”.
