Donald Trump Provides Another Headache for Supreme Court

Donald Trump may ask the Supreme Court to rule on another federal immunity decision after a lower court rejected the argument ahead of the second defamation civil trial involving E. Jean Carroll.

In a Monday ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declined Trump’s legal team’s request to rehear his arguments with an “en banc” (on the bench) review, where a court assumes jurisdiction over the entire case.

A federal appeals court ruled in December that Trump cannot cite presidential immunity in a defamation lawsuit brought by Carroll, with a civil trial to determine the case due to begin on January 16. The allegations involving Trump relate to his time in the White House.

The Supreme Court has already said it will take up a request from Trump to rule on whether he should be disqualified from running for president in Colorado over allegations he violated the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to decide if he can cite absolute immunity in the Georgia election interference case, with the court expected to eventually be asked to also make an immunity ruling in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard the start of oral arguments on the matter on Tuesday.

The defamation lawsuit is separate from the sexual battery and defamation suit by Carroll, which has been settled. A jury ruled in May 2023 that Trump was liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, a former Elle columnist, in a department store in the 1990s, then defamed her by denying the incident took place. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.

The second suit, which was filed in 2019, also relates to allegations that Trump defamed Carroll’s character by denying the accusations, including that Carroll made up the assault to increase sales of her book. Carroll later amended her suit to include disparaging comments Trump made about her during a CNN town hall last May soon after the jury ruled against him.

The civil trial has been delayed as Trump argued through the courts that he should not be punished for comments he made while he was president as he had absolute immunity, and denying assault allegations fall under his presidential duties.

In a December filing, Trump’s legal team asked for a 90-day delay to the second civil trial so he could consider appellate options, including an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected Trump’s latest immunity defense; the Supreme Court is the final place the former president can submit an appeal to, as his legal team has already indicated they might.

“The requested stays are necessary and appropriate to give President Trump an opportunity to fully litigate his entitlement to present an immunity defense in the underlying proceedings, including pursuing the appeal in the Supreme Court if necessary,” Trump’s legal team wrote in the December 21 filing.

“The denial of this right would upend the longstanding rule that lower courts are divested of jurisdiction for the pendency of an immunity-related appeal.”

It is unclear if the conservative majority Supreme Court, which has three justices who were nominated to the bench by Trump, will take up a civil case that has already been ruled on twice by the lower courts.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s legal team for comment via email.

In September, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump had defamed Carroll with the 2019 comments, and the upcoming civil trial will determine how much damages Trump will have to pay Carroll.

Kaplan recently ruled that Trump’s lawyers cannot try and argue to the jury in the civil trial that the former president didn’t assault Carroll in the 1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing against Carroll and continues to attack her on social media ahead of the civil trial.