The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s push to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually assaulted author E. Jean Carroll in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
The High Court refused to take up the case in a short, non-explanatory order, as is customary. There was no apparent opposition.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that the allegations that led to the $5 million verdict were supported by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual harassment decades ago.
Trump has denied all three of the women’s claims.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge had violated federal rules of evidence in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, even though the decision came before his return to the White House.
“This abuse of the President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents.
