特朗普与司法部请求最高法院推翻卡罗尔8330万美元诽谤判决Trump and DOJ Ask Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3 Million Defamation Verdict

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普于周二正式向最高法院递交上诉申请，请求介入其与杂志专栏作家E·简·卡罗尔之间长达数年的法律纠纷。特朗普的律师团队在申请中，强烈敦促最高法院推翻此前陪审团判决其支付8330万美元民事赔偿的裁决。他们辩称，特朗普作为总统，在法律上应当享有免受此类诉讼的豁免权。目前，该上诉申请尚未在最高法院正式登记立案。

President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to intervene in his yearslong legal battle with magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, appealing the $83.3 million civil jury verdict on the grounds of presidential immunity. In the petition, which has not yet been formally docketed at the high court, Trump's attorneys argue that he should be shielded from the litigation because the disputed statements were made during his presidency.

与此同时，美国司法部也于周二单独向最高法院提交了申请。司法部在申请中支持了特朗普律师的另一项核心主张，即根据相关法律规定，应当允许将美国政府替换为该诉讼的被告，而不是由特朗普个人承担责任。这一举动意味着联邦政府与特朗普在推翻该巨额判决的法律诉求上达成了高度一致。

The Department of Justice separately filed its own petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, aligning with Trump's defense. The Justice Department's filing supports the argument that the U.S. government should have been substituted for Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit, as he was serving as president at the time of the statements. This joint effort by Trump and the DOJ seeks to completely overturn the multi-million dollar defamation judgment.

特朗普的律师团队在向最高法院提交的申请中，将辩护的核心建立在最高法院2024年关于总统豁免权的里程碑式裁决之上。该裁决认定，总统的官方行为享有豁免权，且总统的大多数公开交流都属于官方行为。律师们指出，特朗普在2019年发表的涉案言论，是他作为总统在白宫通过发布新闻稿和回答记者提问作出的，旨在针对对其执政能力的攻击进行辩护。他们强调，第二巡回上诉法院在维持这一高达8330万美元（含判决后利息已接近1亿美元）的巨额诽谤判决时，甚至从未判定总统豁免权是否适用于本案。

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Trump's attorneys grounded their defense heavily on the high court's 2024 ruling on presidential immunity, which established that presidents have immunity for official acts and that most of a president's public communications constitute official acts. The lawyers argued that Trump's 2019 statements regarding Carroll were made from the White House while he was serving as president, consisting of a press release and responses to reporters' questions to defend against attacks on his fitness for office. They contended that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the defamation judgment—which now approaches $100 million when including post-judgment interest—without ever deciding whether presidential immunity actually applies to the case.

律师团队在申请书中警告称，如果任由下级法院的判决维持不变，将会对现任及未来的总统，乃至总统制所服务的整个国家造成重大损害。他们指出，这是美国历史上首次有法院因总统在任期间的行为而对其追究损害赔偿责任。特朗普的律师认为，由于这些公开言论是在其担任总统期间发表的，根据2024年的豁免权裁决，该诽谤判决必须予以推翻。

The defense team warned that leaving the lower court's decision standing would cause significant damage not only to the current president and future presidents, but also to the nation that the presidency was designed to serve. Highlighting that this is the first case in U.S. history where a court has imposed damages liability on a president for conduct in office, Trump's lawyers asserted that the 2024 Supreme Court precedent requires the Carroll verdict to be overturned because the statements were made during his presidency.

这起旷日持久的法律纠纷始于2019年，当时作家E·简·卡罗尔对唐纳德·特朗普提起诉讼，指控其在第一任总统任期内发表的言论构成名誉诽谤。卡罗尔此前公开指控特朗普于1990年代中期（具体为1996年）在纽约一家百货公司的试衣间内对她实施了性侵犯。特朗普在担任总统期间对此予以坚决否认，并多次公开反驳这些指控。

The yearslong legal battle began in 2019 when writer E. Jean Carroll filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, alleging that his public statements during his first presidential term defamed her. Carroll had previously accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, specifically in 1996, inside a dressing room at a New York department store. Trump repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations while serving as president.

卡罗尔在诉讼中指出，特朗普在白宫应对媒体和公众时，不仅全盘否认曾对她实施性侵，还公开指责她撒谎，声称她捏造这一虚假故事完全是为了推销自己即将出版的新书。卡罗尔认为，特朗普的这些言论严重损害了她的名誉，并因此要求其承担法律责任。陪审团最终在2024年做出裁决，认定特朗普的否认和相关言论构成诽谤，并判处其支付高达8330万美元的赔偿金。

In her lawsuit, Carroll contended that Trump defamed her when he publicly rejected her sexual abuse allegations from the White House, claiming that she fabricated the entire story to sell more copies of her upcoming book. Carroll asserted that these presidential denials severely damaged her reputation. A jury subsequently ruled in 2024 that Trump had indeed defamed Carroll, leading to the $83.3 million damages award that Trump is now appealing to the Supreme Court.

除了总统豁免权这一核心辩护理由外，特朗普的律师团队与美国司法部在各自提交的申请中，均将焦点指向了联邦《威斯特法尔法案》（Westfall Act）。该法案是一项旨在保护联邦政府雇员在履行官方职责时免受特定诉讼的联邦法律。特朗普的律师辩称，根据该法案的规定，特朗普在2019年发表涉案言论时正处于履行总统官方职责的过程中，因此应当允许他将自己从被告名单中移除，并由美国政府替换为该诉讼的唯一被告。

In addition to the core presidential immunity defense, both Trump's legal team and the Department of Justice focused their petitions on the Westfall Act. This federal statute is designed to protect government employees from certain personal lawsuits while they are engaged in their official duties. Trump's attorneys argued that under the provisions of this act, Trump should be permitted to swap out his name as the defendant in the lawsuit and replace it with the United States government, given that his 2019 statements were made while he was serving as president.

司法部在单独提交的申请中也重申了这一立场，支持将美国政府替换为被告主体。如果最高法院采纳这一主张，允许根据《威斯特法尔法案》进行被告主体的替换，那么该诉讼的法律责任将由联邦政府承担，从而使特朗普个人免于承担这笔高达8330万美元的巨额民事赔偿责任。这一争议也成为了双方请求最高法院介入并推翻原判决的关键法律依据之一。

The Justice Department's separate petition echoed this argument, supporting the substitution of the U.S. government as the defendant in the litigation. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of this substitution under the Westfall Act, the federal government would assume the role of the defendant, effectively shielding Trump from personal liability for the $83.3 million defamation judgment. This joint statutory argument represents a key legal avenue through which both petitions seek to overturn the jury's verdict.