The Justice Department wants to pause an appeals court’s $83.3 million jury verdict in President Trump’s defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll from going into full legal effect while further legal steps are pursued.
In requesting a stay, the federal government is intervening to help pause the verdict from being enforced.
At the same time, the DOJ, citing the Westfall Act, is asking the Supreme Court to substitute the federal government as the defendant in the lawsuit. The DOJ previously certified that Mr. Trump was acting “within the scope of employment” when he made the statements Ms. Carroll sued over, which would have replaced Mr. Trump personally as the defendant with the federal government.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals refused to honor that certification — a notion the DOJ strongly disagrees with and wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, the attorneys said in a Tuesday filing in the 2nd Circuit.
The president’s legal team argues that allowing enforcement now would cause irreparable harm, particularly because Ms. Carroll has publicly said that she plans to give away any money she receives, making recovery difficult if the Supreme Court were later to reverse the ruling.
“This Court should now stay the mandate to allow President Trump to present important questions relating to, without limitation, Presidential immunity and the Westfall Act to the Supreme Court,” presidential lawyer Justin Smith wrote in a court filing. “Carroll does not oppose this motion.”
A spokesperson for Ms. Carroll’s lawyer told Politico that the 2nd Circuit’s decision last year rejected the Westfall Act argument that “both Trump and the government waived any right to now move for substitution” by failing to request it originally.
Her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said that the recent motion was “pretty expected,” telling Newsweek that her team does not oppose a stay of the mandate, provided the president increases the size of the existing bond to account for interest and to ensure the damages remain available to satisfy the judgment.
Mr. Trump was president when he made the comments criticizing Ms. Carroll, who, in a civil lawsuit, accused Mr. Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. A New York jury found Mr. Trump responsible for sexual abuse but not rape, and awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million.
In a social media post, Mr. Trump had called the rape allegations a “hoax and a lie.” Ms. Carroll prevailed in a separate defamation lawsuit and, in 2024, a New York jury awarded her $83.3 million in damages.
Just last week, the 2nd Circuit denied Mr. Trump’s request to rehear his appeal of the defamation verdict. But Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue there is a “reasonable probability” the Supreme Court will take the case and a “fair prospect” the justices will reverse the lower court.
