Washington — The Supreme Court rejected for the second time an effort by President Donald Trump to avoid paying more than $5.6 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexually abusing and defaming her.
The court on Aug. 17 declined to reconsider Trump's appeal of a 2023 jury verdict in a civil suit brought by Carroll.
Trump had to pay Carroll the $5 million judgment plus interest after the court first rejected his appeal on June 29.
His lawyers fought the payment, arguing he deserved a chance to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider his request.
It's rare for litigants to ask for a second look and even rarer for the court to grant one.
Trump's lawyers said reconsideration was warranted because the case is connected to another appeal involving Carroll that they have asked the Supreme Court to hear.
In that case, a Manhattan civil jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million from Trump in 2024 based on the conclusion that Trump defamed her in 2019 when he first denied her allegations.
Trump's lawyers have argued he should have immunity for his 2019 comments because he made them while serving as president.
"That use of official Presidential statements matters, because this Court has made clear that official Presidential acts may not be used as evidence to impose liability for other conduct," his lawyers told the justices, referencing the court's 2024 ruling that presidents can't be criminally prosecuted for "official" acts taken by a president.
Trump's statements were used against him in both trials, but Trump's lawyers did not raise the immunity issue in their appeal of the first judgement. His lawyers said they focused on other arguments because the Supreme Court had not yet issued its 2024 decision about presidential immunity.
The court did not explain its reasons for again rejecting that appeal, which is common for those applications.
The dispute started in 2019 when Carroll said that Trump sexually assaulted her at a New York City department store in 1996. Trump fired back with allegations that she was making up the story to sell her book.
Carroll sued him months later, eventually winning the $83.3 million judgment.
As the case was ongoing, Trump repeated the denial in a social media post in 2022. Carroll then sued Trump again under a special window of time that New York granted to sexual abuse survivors, and in 2023, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse against Carroll. That resulted in the $5 million verdict.
Federal appeals courts upheld both judgments.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court rejects renewed Trump appeal in E. Jean Carroll case