The Supreme Court has shut the door a second time on President Trump's effort to reverse the $5 million jury verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll, leaving a larger, $83 million judgment as the last legal front still pending.

The justices on Monday declined Trump's request to reconsider their June decision, which had already rejected his initial appeal of the Carroll verdict. The move was procedurally unusual, rehearing petitions at the Supreme Court are filed rarely and granted almost never, but the outcome was unsurprising to court watchers. NBC News reported that the court offered no elaboration on its denial.

Trump has already paid out the judgment. The New York Post reported the total came to $5.63 million, including interest. The funds had been held in escrow during the appeals process before being disbursed to Carroll.

Carroll's 1996 accusation and the two civil verdicts

Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. She later filed a federal lawsuit in New York City, and a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding her $5 million. A second, separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a different defamation case tied to comments Trump made during his first term as president.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He has said he does not know Carroll and has called her claims a "con job" and "hoax." After the court's initial June refusal to hear his appeal, Trump pushed back publicly.

The Washington Examiner reported that Trump said he was surprised by the June decision but vowed to press on:

"Continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength."

That fight now narrows to one remaining front: the $83.3 million defamation judgment, which is still under appeal at the Supreme Court. The justices are not expected to decide whether to take up that case until October at the earliest.

Presidential immunity remains the central question in the $83 million case

Trump's legal team has argued that presidential immunity should shield him from Carroll's defamation claims, particularly for statements he made while serving as president. His lawyers contend that lower courts wrongly concluded he had forfeited that defense. AP News reported that the Justice Department has backed Trump's position on the immunity question in the larger case.

The immunity argument carries broader implications. Trump has faced a string of significant Supreme Court rulings during his second term, with mixed results. The court handed him a major setback on tariff authority earlier this year, forcing the administration to rebuild its trade framework under older statutes.

On other fronts, the court's decisions have prompted the administration to adjust course rather than concede ground. Trump signed executive orders on birth tourism and birthright citizenship after one such ruling, and he renewed his push to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook following a separate Supreme Court decision that went against him.

$5.63 million paid, but the larger judgment looms

Monday's denial formally ends the $5 million case. Trump paid the judgment last month, and the escrow disbursement to Carroll is complete. Just The News noted that the ruling finalizes the legal outcome on that verdict, leaving no further avenue of appeal.

The $83.3 million judgment is a different matter. That case hinges on whether a sitting president's public statements about a private citizen's accusations qualify for immunity, a question the court has not yet agreed to hear. Trump's lawyers have framed the issue as one of constitutional separation of powers, not simply a personal legal dispute.

The court's composition has been a subject of attention in its own right. Justice Alito recently confirmed he will remain on the bench, a decision Trump publicly welcomed. Whether the current court will take up the immunity question in the Carroll defamation case, or leave the lower court ruling intact, remains the central open question heading into the fall term.

Carroll's legal victories stand at a combined $88.3 million across two jury verdicts. Trump has paid the smaller one. The larger one now sits in the hands of a court that has already twice declined to intervene on his behalf in the same broader dispute.

For a president who has called the Carroll litigation "weaponization" and "lawfare," the path forward depends on whether the justices see the immunity argument as a question worth answering, or one the lower courts already got right. The court's track record in this case so far offers him little reason for optimism.

When the legal system moves this consistently in one direction, the smart bet is on the next step looking a lot like the last two.