The justices redistributed Trump’s rehearing petition last week, the first such action the Court has taken on a case since 2018. The move comes as the Department of Justice examines whether Carroll committed perjury in her 2022 deposition testimony.
Trump’s petition challenges the admission of testimony from other women who made decades-old allegations against him, along with the 2005 Access Hollywood tape. Both were allowed as pattern evidence. Carroll’s legal team has acknowledged the case could have appeared differently without that material, conceding that her testimony alone might not have been enough to secure a favorable verdict.
Trump’s lawyers argue that fundamental rules of evidence require liability to rest on specific conduct rather than character or similar allegations. The dispute highlights broader questions about how courts apply evidentiary standards to different defendants and cases.
Carroll’s litigation received substantial outside support. LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, through the nonprofit American Future Republic, provided approximately $7 million to her legal team. That funding remained undisclosed until weeks before the first trial.
In her 2022 deposition, Carroll testified under oath that no one else was funding her legal fees. A federal appeals court later addressed the discrepancy, finding that she had not been closely involved in the details of how her lawyers obtained support and that her earlier statement did not undermine the verdict.
The Supreme Court’s decision to redistribute the rehearing petition keeps the case alive and ensures continued scrutiny of both the trial evidence and the funding arrangements that supported Carroll’s lawsuits. Further action from the justices is expected in the coming weeks.
