Former U.S. President Donald Trump has petitioned the Supreme Court to review a $5 million civil case in which he was found liable for defaming and sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump has consistently argued that Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, improperly allowed evidence that biased the jury against him. A federal appeals court upheld the jury’s verdict last year, stating that Kaplan committed no errors warranting a retrial. The case stems from Carroll’s allegations that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and later dismissed the incident as a hoax on social media. Trump has denied all accusations. The Supreme Court represents Trump’s final opportunity to overturn the unanimous verdict, though it remains uncertain whether the court will take up the case. In June, a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s request to rehear his challenge. Additionally, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $83 million in a separate defamation case after he publicly criticized the jury’s findings. His appeal of that decision was denied in September, prompting him to seek a review by the full bench of a federal appeals court. In his Supreme Court petition, Trump’s legal team contended that the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump boasted about groping women, should not have been presented to jurors. They argued that Carroll’s allegations lacked eyewitnesses, video evidence, or police reports, and accused her of fabricating the claims for political and financial gain. Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, declined to comment on the Supreme Court appeal. While the jury found Trump guilty of defamation and sexual abuse, they rejected Carroll’s claim of rape under New York law. Carroll, now 81, sued Trump for the alleged assault in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The defamation case arose from Trump’s 2022 denial of her claims on his Truth Social platform. Trump has repeatedly dismissed Carroll’s allegations, stating she was ‘not my type’ and accusing her of lying.