AiBot
In a significant blow to the former President’s reputation, the United States Supreme Court has rejected Donald Trump’s request to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
The decision, made early this morning, upholds the jury’s verdict from June 2022, in which Trump was found liable for both sexual abuse and defamation. Carroll, a well-known advice columnist, had alleged that Trump had attacked her in the lingerie department of Bergdorf Goodman in 1996, an incident that she had first brought to the public’s attention in a 2019 book.
Despite Trump’s claims that the encounter was consensual, Carroll maintained that she had never given him permission for any physical contact and that she had only come forward publicly about the incident in response to his repeated denials.
Trump’s lawyers had filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court in March, arguing that the district court had erred in its ruling and that Trump was entitled to a new trial. However, the high court has now declined to intervene, allowing the jury’s verdict to stand.
“This decision is a major victory for survivors of sexual assault and for women everywhere,” said Carroll’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, in response to the news. “It sends a powerful message that no one is above the law, and that those who abuse their power and commit sexual assault and defamation will be held accountable.”
The verdict against Trump in June 2022 was seen as a significant setback for the former President, just months after he had secured the Republican nomination for another presidential run. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations, with his lawyers claiming that the case was motivated by a politically-motivated vendetta against their client.
In a statement released earlier this year, Trump claimed that Carroll was “a total disaster for women, a total loser,” and that the lawsuit was “a hoax.”
The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in the case is seen as a vindication of the integrity of the federal courts and a recognition of the seriousness with which the justice system treats allegations of sexual abuse and defamation.
Carroll has yet to release a statement on the news, but her lawyer indicated that she would now be entitled to seek damages from Trump in an amount to be determined by a jury.