A federal appeals court in Manhattan questioned former U.S. president Donald Trump’s claim of absolute immunity from a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape. During oral arguments on Monday, two members of a three-judge panel challenged Trump’s lawyer, Michael Madaio, regarding the timing of Trump’s assertion of immunity, considering the case had been ongoing for over three years.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 after he denied raping her in a midtown Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump, who was president at the time of the lawsuit, dismissed Carroll’s allegations, stating she was “not his type” and suggesting she fabricated the claim to boost her book sales.
Trump is appealing U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s rulings, which refused to dismiss Carroll’s lawsuit and dismissed some of Trump’s defenses and a defamation counterclaim against her. Kaplan ruled on September 6 that Trump’s denial was defamatory, leaving only the issue of damages for the upcoming trial scheduled for January 16, 2024. Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
Madaio argued that presidential immunity was an “absolute and nonwaivable protection” that judges could not override. He stated that denying immunity would disrupt the constitutional separation of powers between the U.S. government’s executive and judicial branches. However, Circuit Judge Denny Chin questioned why Trump waited until December 2022 to claim immunity after three years of litigation.
Carroll’s lawyer, Joshua Matz, rejected the notion that broader structural considerations prevented Trump from waiving absolute immunity. Matz contended that Trump’s behavior throughout the case contradicted his claim of immunity.
The appeals court did not specify when it would deliver its ruling. If the court agrees with Judge Kaplan, Trump could be ordered to pay damages and costs.
Despite facing multiple federal and state criminal indictments, Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. election. Additionally, he is a defendant in a civil fraud trial, accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of unlawfully inflating his assets and net worth to deceive lenders and insurers.
