WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. There were no noted dissents.Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the $5 million verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.Trump’s attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.
“This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge. The decision comes as the court hands down opinions in the biggest cases of the term, many key to Trump’s agenda. Trump has publicly vented his frustration with Supreme Court losses in highly personal terms before, including unusual and highly personal criticism when the majority struck down global tariffs he imposed under an emergency powers law.
