A federal appeals court on Wednesday shot down Donald Trump’s assertion that presidential immunity shields him from a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused the former president of raping her in a department store dressing room some 30 years ago.
Trump, who was found liable earlier this year for sexually abusing Carroll, waived his right to immunity by waiting too long to raise it as a defense, the three-judge panel unanimously ruled. The stage is now set for Trump to stand trial in civil court next month over Carroll’s claims he defamed her in statements denying the allegations. Trump made the denials in 2019, while he was still president; Carroll brought her lawsuit in 2020.
“A three-year delay is more than enough, under our precedents, to qualify as ‘undue,’” states Wednesday’s decision, written by Judge Jose Cabranes. “And Defendant’s excuse for not timely raising the defense—that the question of whether the Westfall Act immunized Defendant was pending before the District Court, this Court, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals between September 2020 and June 2023—is unpersuasive.”
