Donald Trump and the justice department are asking the US supreme court to toss an $83m defamation verdict won by writer E Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault, saying he cannot be sued for comments he made while he was president.
It is the second time Trump has asked the justices to nix damages awarded by a jury to Carroll, a longtime New York advice columnist and former talkshow host. The supreme court refused in June to hear his appeal of another verdict, for $5m, that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
The latest case centers on comments Trump made during his first term as US president. The justice department wants to invoke the Westfall Act, which shields government employees from being sued for doing their jobs.
“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” federal attorneys wrote. “That alone deserves this Court’s attention.”
There’s a key difference between this case and the 5 million dollar case.
In this case, Donald Trump was the president when he made the defamatory statements. In the other case, he was not the president when he made the specific defamatory statements that were in the case.
In Trump v. U.S. (2024), the supreme court invested the presidency with criminal immunity for official acts. In this case, Trump wants to extend that to full civil immunity as well and they argue that defaming Carroll was an official act of the presidency.
Remember Bill Clinton?
SCotUS has already determined that the PotUS can be held civilly liable.
I do remember Bill Clinton. Bill is not a good precedent here because Bill’s lawsuit stemmed entirely from Bill’s pre-presidential behavior.
In E. Jean Caroll’s other $5 million lawsuit, SCOTUS declined to intervene. And that lawsuit is based on Trump’s non-presidential statements, same as Bill.
How can they make him immune to civil cases? That would be insane.