Trump cannot assert presidential immunity in E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, appeals court rules

Former President Donald Trump cannot assert presidential immunity in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, a U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a federal judge's decision not to allow Trump's blanket claim of presidential immunity in the case, prompting the former president’s legal team to seek a review from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The Second Circuit’s ruling is fundamentally flawed and we will seek immediate review from the Supreme Court," said Alina Habba, one of Trump's lawyers in the case.

The appeal was heard on an expedited basis, ahead of his scheduled trial on Jan. 16.

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Former President Donald Trump appears in the courtroom for the third day of his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Oct. 4. (Mary Altafeer-Pool/Getty Images)

In the lawsuit, Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages from Trump over comments he made about her in June 2019, during his presidential term in the White House.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, initially accused Trump of rape and sexual assault in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. In response, the former president denied ever knowing Carroll and said she made up the rape claim for attention. She then sued in November 2019.

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E. Jean Carroll, center, sports a broad smile as she exits Manhattan Federal Court alongside her legal team on May 9, after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in a civil trial. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In December 2022, Trump asserted presidential immunity shielded him from the lawsuit. The president’s unique office grants him complete immunity from many types of civil lawsuits while in office.

This delay, however, was ultimately cited by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan when he rejected Trump's bid to dismiss Carroll's case and refused to let Trump raise an immunity defense.

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On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit said those decisions were correct.

E. Jean Carroll leaves following her trial at Manhattan Federal Court on May 8 in New York City. Attorneys for E. Jean Carroll and former President Donald Trump gave closing arguments in the battery and defamation trial against the former president. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

"A three-year-delay is more than enough, under our precedents, to qualify as 'undue,'" the three-judge panel wrote in its opinion.

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Robbie Kaplan, the attorney for E. Jean Carroll, responded, "We are pleased that the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Kaplan’s rulings and that we can now move forward with trial next month on January 16."

In December 2022, former President Donald Trump asserted presidential immunity shielded him from the lawsuit. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Trump has pursued similar immunity defenses in his federal criminal case in Washington, where he is accused of inciting a riot, disrupting an official proceeding and for unlawfully trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, when he seeks a rematch against President Biden in the 2024 election. Trump currently leads Biden in head-to-head polls and holds a tremendous lead over other Republican candidates, including Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reuters contributed to this report.