Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is handling proceedings that will soon culminate in a second trial on claims from writer E. Jean Carroll against former President Donald Trump, has formally blocked the ex-president’s team from attempting to lodge certain defenses at that trial.
The second trial will handle the question of financial penalties for Trump on claims from the writer of defamation. Her defamation claims stem from Trump’s antagonistic reactions to Carroll revealing an account of Trump sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. Kaplan blocked the Trump team from bringing up in imminent courtroom arguments that the jury at the first trial found Carroll’s description of events to fall short of the technical definition of rape under New York law. That jury still found Trump liable on other allegations of sexual misconduct and additional claims of defamation, imposing a financial consequence of $5 million in penalties.
As summarized by The Associated Press, Carroll’s team recapped the earlier jury as holding Trump responsible for an act that “does not constitute rape under New York state law but which constitutes rape in other jurisdictions.” In other words, the idea wasn’t just opposition to the bulk of Carroll’s arguments but instead fitting what she claimed with the standards outlined in relevant sections of law. Allowing Trump’s team to bring forth arguments at the second trial about those jury conclusions could have created confusion for the jury by effectively presenting questions that aren’t meant for its purview. No sexual misconduct claims will be directly at issue in these latest proceedings. At the trial stage, such claims from Carroll are settled.
Also imminent are oral arguments before an appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., on whether Trump can use claims of wide-ranging legal immunity supposedly drawn from the mere fact that he held office to shut down a criminal case from Special Counsel Jack Smith. And at the U.S. Supreme Court, there will be oral arguments next month on whether Trump can appear on the ballot in the unfolding presidential race considering his argued connections to the Capitol violence of January 6, 2021.
