U.S. President Donald Trump has requested the Supreme Court to overturn the $83 million compensation imposed on him for defamation against prominent columnist E. Jean Carroll, after she accused him of sexual assault.

In court documents, Trump's defense team argued that the president cannot be held liable for statements made while in office and that the lower court's ruling "wrongfully abrogated presidential immunity."

Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, sued Trump in November 2019, during his first term, alleging he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996 and publicly defamed her after she made her allegations public.

In May 2023, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, ordering him to pay Carroll $5 million. In January 2024, another federal jury imposed an $83.3 million penalty for additional defamatory statements.

On June 29, the Supreme Court had already rejected Trump's appeal against the damages awarded in the first lawsuit.

Trump's attorneys are now relying on the Supreme Court's landmark 2024 ruling that granted presidents and former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for official acts committed during their terms.

"This is the first case in our nation's history where a court has imposed damages liability on a president for his conduct in office," Trump's lawyers asserted in their brief appealing the award to Carroll.