E. Jean Carroll reacts as she exits Manhattan Federal Court following the verdict in the civil rape case against former US President Donald Trump, in New York City, May 9, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
A federal court of appeals on Wednesday denied a bid by Donald Trump to delay a defamation lawsuit by writer E. Jean Carroll, but granted him an expedited appeal on the question of whether he can claim absolute presidential immunity as a defense.
The order by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was a partial victory for Trump after a series of significant losses in two lawsuits Carroll filed against him related to her alleged rape in the mid-1990s at a department store. in New York.
Barring further action by that appeals court or the Supreme Court, the second of Carroll’s lawsuits remains scheduled for trial in mid-January in US District Court in Manhattan.
But the 2nd Circuit in its Wednesday order consolidated Trump’s two pending appeals and ordered his and Carroll’s lawyers to file legal briefs on the dispute within the next 35 days.
“Appeals will be assigned to the first available panel to hear the cases on the merits,” the court said.
That means a panel of three appellate judges will hear arguments in mid-October, and possibly rule before the trial begins.
The order came a week after a federal district court judge ruled that Trump is civilly liable for defamatory statements he made about Carrol in 2019 when she first went public with her rape allegations. The ruling means that the upcoming trial will only deal with the question of how much Trump should pay Carroll in monetary damages.
Carroll’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan, said in a statement, “We look forward to both the January 15th trial on damages and making our arguments to the Second Circuit that Donald Trump waived presidential immunity.”
Kaplan in court filings mocked Trump’s appeals of two bad judge decisions in the case, accusing the former president of legal gamesmanship by raising a claim of absolute presidential immunity at the end of the trial while the case was pending. approaches trial and he continues to lose court decisions.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A jury in Manhattan federal court in May awarded Carroll $5 million in damages for another lawsuit after it found he was sexually assaulted during an encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s, and defamed by statements made he denied his allegation last year. fall
Trump, who denies sexually assaulting Carroll, is appealing that verdict.
In the pending suit headed to trial, Carroll alleged that Trump defamed her in 2019 when he, as president, first made statements denying her rape claim. That case was delayed by years of legal proceedings that included an effort by the Justice Department to effectively kill Carroll’s claim by arguing that Trump had immunity from suit because he was president at the time. that.
In July, the DOJ dropped those efforts, citing a ruling by a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, that suggested Trump could be personally sued if his statements were not intended to serve the US government.
The DOJ also noted that Trump’s allegedly defamatory remarks about Carroll continued after he left the White House in January 2021.
