83 Million Dollars, a President, and a Court System That Keeps Delaying

Donald Trump does not have to pay the $83 million to E. Jean Carroll for now. Once again, in the United States, a legal case that has long since become a question of how far power, money, and political influence can slow down a judgment is being pushed further into the future. On Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York granted Trump another delay. The payment remains frozen until the Supreme Court decides whether it will even take the case or reject another appeal. For Carroll, that means one thing above all else - waiting. Again.

The courts had already expressed themselves with unusual clarity about what they thought of Trump’s conduct. In January 2024, a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million after Trump publicly attacked, insulted, and defamed her for years. The appeals court later wrote that Trump had not only continued his attacks, but had intensified them the closer the trial came. Even during the proceedings themselves, he continued attacking Carroll. Judges specifically pointed to statements by Trump in which he announced that he would defame her “a thousand more times.”

At the center of the case remains Carroll’s accusation that Trump sexually abused her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in Manhattan during the mid-1990s. A jury already concluded in 2023 that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and later defamed her. At that time, Carroll was awarded $5 million. The later trial over the $83 million focused primarily on the massive continuation of those public attacks.

Trump still denies everything to this day. His lawyers describe the accusations as politically motivated and are once again attempting to involve the Supreme Court. Particularly explosive is the argument now being advanced by his defense team. Trump is partially claiming “absolute immunity” for statements he made as president. In effect, a sitting president is attempting to argue that even public defamation could under certain circumstances be protected by the office itself.

The appeals court did not grant the payment delay for free, however. Trump must post a $7.4 million bond to cover possible additional interest. But compared to the actual amount, it appears almost symbolic. For many observers, the impression once again emerges that legal proceedings against Trump operate inside their own judicial time zone. Ordinary defendants rarely experience such a chain of delays, special motions, and endless reviews.

Added to that is the political reality. While other people facing far smaller sums would already be confronted with asset seizures or immediate enforcement actions, Trump continues moving through layers of appeals, lawyers, and deadlines. At the same time, he is once again sitting in the White House. It is precisely this combination of political power and personal legal defense that has made the case far bigger than an ordinary defamation lawsuit.

E. Jean Carroll is now 82 years old. For years, the case has dragged through American courts. More motions. More delays. More headlines. And over and over again, the same question: How long can a president delay judgments before the justice system itself begins to suffer damage?

The Supreme Court could reject the case. But it could also accept it - creating once again months or even years in which Trump would not have to pay any money. That now appears to be exactly what his circle is openly counting on. No longer full exoneration in the eyes of the public, but time. A great deal of time.