NEW YORK — Donald Trump asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to stay its ruling rejecting his challenge to E. Jean Carroll's $83 million defamation verdict so he can present questions to the Supreme Court. The request followed a ruling last week in which the appeals court denied Trump's bid for an en banc rehearing of the award Carroll won in 2024.

In a split vote, the majority of the 2nd Circuit panel denied Trump's request to invoke the Westfall Act to substitute the United States as the defendant in Carroll's defamation case. The Westfall Act protects federal employees from common-law lawsuits such as defamation while they are performing their official duties.

Trump's court filing argued, "There is also a fair, in fact, strong, prospect that the Supreme Court will reverse the Panel's Westfall Act decision." The filing also argued that "There is a likelihood of irreparable harm against Trump if the court does not temporarily block Carroll from collecting her $83 million award."

The Justice Department said it will ask the Supreme Court to consider Trump's Westfall Act argument and overturn the lower court's ruling, allowing his name to be removed as defendant. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate wrote that the filing finds "good cause" in Trump's request to pause the 2nd Circuit's ruling. Carroll's legal team wrote that she does not oppose the motion as long as Trump raises the bond by $7.46 million to account for the post-judgment interest that would accrue during Supreme Court proceedings.

A federal jury decided that Trump defamed Carroll when he repeatedly denied her accusation that he sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1996. A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit rejected Trump's appeal based on presidential immunity in September.