Donald Trump on Monday lost again in the former president's bid to swat away E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit on the grounds of federal immunity, setting the stage for a potential last-minute petition to the U.S. Supreme Court before a trial that's scheduled to begin next week in Manhattan federal court.
In a single-page order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declined to rehear Trump's case before the full 13-judge bench, a maneuver known as an en banc appeal. No active judge from the appellate court called for a vote on the matter, according to the ruling.
That leaves the Supreme Court as the final stop if Trump wants to pursue his appeal any further, a move the former president in December signaled he may make.
A federal jury previously awarded $5 million to Carroll after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but a remaining lawsuit will determine how much more the former president will owe her for denying her sexual assault allegations while he was still in office.
E. Jean Carroll is pictured outside of court on May 31. A jury awarded her $5 million in her suit against the former president. Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images; KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
In the previous trial, a federal jury determined that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s, holding him liable under New York's Adult Survivors Act. The jurors also unanimously found that Trump defamed Carroll by falsely denying her accusations. Carroll's remaining lawsuit relates to Trump's denials during his presidency, and the reckoning over it has been delayed by appeals over whether he had immunity over statements he made to reporters while still in office.
In light of the first verdict, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found that Trump's liability already has been established, and the second jury only must determine additional damages.
Neither Trump nor Carroll's attorneys immediately responded to requests for comment.
The second trial is slated to begin later this month on Jan. 16, 2024.