Trump appeal in sex assault, defamation case rejected again

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected for a second time President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury judgment that he sexually assaulted and defamed writer E Jean Carroll.

The Supreme Court did not give any reason for its decision not to hear the president’s challenge. The court in late June also refused to hear Trump’s appeal against the original May 2023 verdict.

Carroll, 82, a former journalist and columnist, accused Trump of assaulting her in a dressing room of a New York department store in 1996.

Trump paid $5.6 million to Carroll last month after a civil jury found he sexually assaulted and defamed her.

When the allegations were published in a 2019 book she wrote, the Republican billionaire called Carroll a “nut job” and claimed she had fabricated her case.

In a separate defamation case in New York, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to Carroll. Trump has also appealed that judgment to the Supreme Court.