Appeals court lets Trump put off paying $83M defamation judgment

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled to give President Donald Trump more time before beginning payments on an $83.3 million defamation judgment. A federal court in early 2024 awarded writer E. Jean Carroll the money for defamatory statements Trump made after she published a memoir accusing the president of sexual abuse.

Trump’s attorneys have appealed the defamation judgment to the Supreme Court, and the new ruling allows Trump not to pay the damages until the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Monday appeals ruling did require Trump to post a nearly $7.5 million bond to cover postjudgment interest that would occur during the possible SCOTUS proceedings.

Didn’t the same appeals court rule to uphold the payments last year? The 2nd Circuit ruled last September that Trump must pay the $83.3 million, and rejected the president’s argument that the penalty was excessive. The latest ruling doesn’t change the amount Trump owes, just when he’s required to start making payments.

Didn’t the Supreme Court already rule on presidential immunity? The high court did rule in July 2024 that presidents do hold absolute criminal immunity over any official acts carried out while in office. However, the ruling didn’t directly address whether that immunity extended to additional legal proceedings he’s faced, like the civil defamation case. 

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s report on how the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Trump v. United States impacted the question of presidential immunity.