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source_url: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/appeals-court-delays-trump-payment-e-jean-carroll-case
---

A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump will not have to pay the $83.3m defamation award to writer [E Jean Carroll](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/e-jean-carroll) until the US supreme court either reviews the case or rejects an appeal.
The second US circuit court of appeals in New York issued the order on Monday, granting a [request ](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-asks-appeals-court-pause-ruling-e-jean-carroll-case-rcna343948)by the president’s lawyers to delay the payment while he seeks supreme court review.
But the court also required that Trump increase the bond by $7.46m, to account for interest that would accrue on Carroll’s award during any further legal proceedings before the nation’s highest court.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement to [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/appeals-court-pauses-trump-83-million-payment-e-jean-carroll-defamatio-rcna344854) on Tuesday that “we are pleased that the Second Circuit conditioned the stay on President Trump posting a bond of nearly $100 million”, citing an earlier increase Trump already posted to bring the amount owed to over [$91.6m ](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/nyregion/trump-carroll-bond-defamation.html)before Monday’s order.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Monday’s ruling.
Late last month, the same court [rejected](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/30/appeals-court-refuse-trump-appeal-e-jean-carroll-case) Trump’s request to rehear his appeal of the $83.3m case, but Trump’s team asked for the decision to be paused until after the supreme court could consider an appeal.
In January 2024, a Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll[ $83.3m](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/26/e-jean-carroll-damages-trump-defamation-trial) for [defaming ](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/nyregion/trump-defamation-trial-carroll-verdict.html)her in 2019 after she accused him of raping her inside the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. It came a year after a separate jury awarded Carroll $5m in damages after finding Trump liable for [sexually abusing and defaming](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/nyregion/trump-carroll-trial-sexual-abuse-defamation.html) Carroll. Trump has repeatedly [denied the allegations](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/us/e-jean-carroll-donald-trump.html).
So far, federal appeals courts have upheld both verdicts. In December 2024, a federal appeals court [upheld the $5m](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/30/donald-trump-loses-appeal-e-jean-carroll) verdict, and last September, a federal appeals court also [upheld the $83.3m](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/08/trump-loses-e-jean-carroll-appeal) jury award against the president.
Trump is challenging the $83m award on several grounds, according to the[ Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-abuse-defamation-670dd7ed241e22c52bd16e82a9febf69), including asserting “absolute immunity” for comments he made about Carroll while president.
Last year, Trump also [asked the supreme court](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/10/trump-supreme-court-e-jean-carroll-lawsuit) to overturn the $5m verdict, with his lawyers arguing that allegations leading to the verdict were “propped up” by a [“series of indefensible evidentiary rulings”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/10/trump-supreme-court-e-jean-carroll-lawsuit).