Trump's bid to overturn sexual misconduct ruling fails; $5 million damages upheld

[Financial News] The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) declined to take up Donald Trump's request to review the ruling in the sexual misconduct case he lost. As a result, the lower court decision ordering Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million, or about 7.7 billion won, remains in place. Trump sharply criticized the court's decision and said he would "keep fighting."
According to AP and The New York Times on the 29th local time, SCOTUS rejected Trump's appeal in the civil sexual misconduct case he lost in 2023. The court gave no reason for its decision, and there were no public dissents.
Carroll had previously claimed that Trump sexually assaulted her after they ran into each other by chance at Bergdorf Goodman, an upscale department store in Manhattan, in 1996. The jury in the first trial said it found no evidence of rape, but it concluded that the former president had sexually abused Carroll, and the court ordered him to pay $5 million in damages. The appeals court upheld that ruling, prompting Trump to seek Supreme Court review in November last year.
The New York Times said the Supreme Court's decision was "a major blow to Trump" and that it "effectively brings to an end his legal effort to challenge the jury's finding that he sexually abused Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s."
Trump criticized the ruling on Truth Social, saying, "Surprisingly, SCOTUS has decided not to review a fake case brought by a woman I have never met." He added, "I will keep fighting with all my strength and resources against this political weaponization of the justice system and the legal attacks aimed at me, especially this absurd defamation claim." He also argued, "This case is effectively about the United States and everything it stands for, and this should never happen again to any future president or presidential candidate."
Meanwhile, Carroll has also filed a separate lawsuit seeking damages for defamation against Trump. In that case, the trial court ordered Trump in January 2024 to pay $83.3 million, or about 128.5 billion won, in damages, and the appeals court upheld that ruling in September last year. Trump's legal team is reportedly planning to ask SCOTUS to hear that case as well.
[email protected] Hong Chaewan Reporter