A federal appeals court panel has rejected former President Donald Trump’s attempt to shield himself from a defamation suit by claiming presidential immunity.
The three-judge Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with a federal district court that Trump waived the presidential immunity defense by waiting too long — three years — before raising it in response to E. Jean Carroll’s 2019 complaint, which alleged that he defamed her by claiming that she had fabricated her account of him sexually assaulting her in the mid- 1990s.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that presidential immunity is a defense that is nonwaivable, even by a president wanting to do so. They maintained that the separation-of-powers doctrine renders presidential immunity nonwaivable because “an impermissible inter-branch conflict will always arise when a court seeks to impute civil liability on a President for the performance of his official acts.”
But the Second Circuit appeals court noted that there are no cases to support Trump’s position and that separation-of-powers considerations actually favor recognizing that presidential immunity is waivable. Citing with the district court ruling, the appeals panel said that recognizing presidential immunity as a nonwaivable defense would risk encroachment by the judiciary into the president’s domain by eliminating the president’s ability to choose whether to litigate. The court said a president’s autonomy to litigate if he or she chooses to do so, or opt instead to settle out of court, should be protected.
Judges Ask Why Trump Waited Years Before Claiming ‘Presidential Immunity’ in Defamation Case
Carroll filed her defamation suit on November 4, 2019, in New York State Supreme Court. Trump filed his answer on January 23, 2020. On September 8, 2020, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. On December 22, 2022, Trump moved for summary judgment and in his reply brief, filed on January 19, 2023, he raised for the first time the argument that presidential immunity barred liability.
On July 5, 2023, the district court denied Trump’s motion for summary judgment after determining that he waived presidential immunity and denied his request to amend his answer to add presidential immunity as a defense. The district court denied his request for leave to amend on two grounds: first, that the request was futile, and second, that Trump unduly delayed in raising the defense and granting the request would prejudice Carroll.
The district court also rejected Trump’s argument that his statements were not defamatory per se. The appeals court did not take up that issue.
Trump appealed the July 5 district court order to the Second Circuit appeals court on July 19, 2023. The appeals court has now upheld the district court on the immunity issue and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.
In May, a federal jury awarded Carroll $5 million after finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll, while rejecting her claim that he raped her. Carroll sued under a recently expired New York law that temporarily lifted the time limit on suits by those claiming they were sexually assaulted years ago.
That May verdict still left the defamation lawsuit Carroll filed in 2019 that was delayed by the presidential immunity argument. The case involves essentially the same comments and charges. A January trial has been scheduled to determine damages. Carroll is seeking more than $10 million.
Top Photo: E. Jean Carroll leaves following her trial at Manhattan Federal Court on May 8, 2023 in New York City. Attorneys for E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump gave closing arguments in the battery and defamation trial against the former president. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Topics New York
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