Donald Trump Seeks to Delay $83 Million E. Jean Carroll Payout as Legal Fight Heads Toward Supreme Court

President Donald Trump is attempting to delay paying an $83 million defamation judgment to writer E. Jean Carroll, asking a federal appeals court to put the payout on hold as he prepares to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The latest legal maneuver extends a yearslong courtroom battle that has unfolded alongside Trump’s public life.

In a filing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, Trump’s attorney argued that enforcement of the $83 million award should be temporarily blocked while the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The damages stem from a January 2024 jury verdict finding Trump liable for defaming Carroll after she accused him of sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996. A separate jury in 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her and later defamed her.

Trump has denied the allegations and said he never knew Carroll, calling her claims politically motivated and tied to promoting her memoir.

His legal team argues that forcing him to pay immediately could cause “irreparable harm,” in part because Carroll has publicly said she plans to give the money away, potentially making it difficult to recover if the verdict is overturned.

At the center of Trump’s appeal is a broader constitutional argument: that his statements about Carroll were made while he was president and should be protected under presidential immunity.

His attorneys are also invoking the Westfall Act, a federal law that shields government employees from certain lawsuits tied to their official duties. If successful, that argument could replace Trump as the defendant with the United States government, effectively nullifying Carroll’s defamation claim, since the federal government cannot be sued for defamation.

In court filings, Trump’s legal team said there is a “fair, in fact, strong, prospect” that the Supreme Court could reverse lower court rulings that rejected those arguments.

The Justice Department has indicated it will ask the high court to consider Trump’s position, saying there is “good cause” to pause the appeals court’s ruling while the matter is reviewed.

Carroll’s legal team has not opposed the request to delay payment, on one condition: that Trump increase the bond he posted after the verdict by roughly $7.4 million to cover interest that would accrue during the appeal.

The 2nd Circuit recently declined to rehear the case with its full panel of judges, leaving in place an earlier ruling that upheld the verdict and clearing the way for Trump to petition the Supreme Court.

Trump has separately asked the high court to review the earlier $5 million judgment tied to the same case.