Court lets Trump delay $83 million Carroll payment pending Supreme Court review

The legal fight over Donald Trump’s $83.3 million defamation judgment for E. Jean Carroll is now on hold, but not over. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to let Trump delay payment only if he posts a $7.4 million bond, a condition meant to cover additional interest that would accrue through October while the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case.

That pause is a procedural reprieve, not a final win. The stay keeps Trump from having to pay now, but it lasts only until the U.S. Supreme Court either takes up the appeal or declines to do so. Carroll did not object to the delay as long as the bond condition was in place, preserving the judgment while the case moves toward possible high court review.

Trump’s lawyers asked for the stay after the same appeals court refused, late last month, to rehear the case before the full 2nd Circuit. A three-judge panel had already affirmed the January 2024 verdict, leaving Trump with one main path left: seek Supreme Court review on immunity grounds. His argument is that some of his attacks on Carroll were made while he was president and should be shielded by presidential immunity.

The underlying verdict came from a New York City jury in January 2024, which awarded Carroll $83.3 million, including $65 million in punitive damages and $18.3 million in compensatory damages. That judgment followed a separate May 2023 jury verdict that had already found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million.

The appeals court has said Trump’s attacks on Carroll continued for at least five years after she first publicly accused him in 2019 of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1996. In upholding the verdict, the panel said his attacks became “more extreme and frequent” as the trial approached, and the court noted that the criticism continued during the trial itself.

Justin D. Smith, one of Trump’s lawyers, said last week there was a “fair prospect” that the Supreme Court would rule in Trump’s favor. For now, the bond requirement keeps the money tied up while the justices decide whether to take the case, leaving one of Trump’s most consequential civil judgments in legal limbo.