The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Donald Trump's petition asking it to reconsider its own earlier refusal to hear his appeal in E. Jean Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation case, a one-line order that closes off his last remaining path to overturning the $5 million verdict against him.

The Court gave no explanation for the denial and noted no dissents, which is standard practice for such orders. What made Monday's ruling notable, according to NBC News' report on the decision, is how rarely the justices even entertain rehearing petitions at all — reporting indicates the Court hasn't granted one since the 1960s, making Trump's request a long shot from the outset.

The case that's now permanently closed

A Manhattan jury found in 2023 that Trump sexually abused Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, and that he defamed her when he later called her account "a Hoax and a lie" and posted that "This woman is not my type!" Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before awarding Carroll $5 million. Trump's legal team confirmed the judgment, with accrued interest bringing the total to roughly $5.62 million, was paid out in July.

Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement carried by ABC News: "We are pleased that the United States Supreme Court has declined again to hear this case. As we have said all along, the jury's unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court."

"THE JURY'S UNANIMOUS VERDICT ... IS NOW FINAL AND CANNOT BE CHALLENGED IN ANY COURT."

Trump's legal team framed the outcome differently, describing the litigation in statements reported by outlets including Fox News and Benzinga as part of "the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes" and saying "the American people stand with President Trump" against what they called "Liberal Lawfare." Trump did not testify at the 2023 trial and has repeatedly denied knowing Carroll.

Monday's order resolves only the $5 million verdict. A second, larger judgment — more than $83 million awarded to Carroll in a separate 2024 defamation trial over different Trump statements — remains on appeal, with Trump's lawyers arguing those remarks were protected official acts of the presidency. The Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will take up that case.

Coverage across Monday and Tuesday said the rehearing denial removes any remaining uncertainty around the smaller judgment and effectively ends one of the highest-profile pieces of litigation to follow Trump into his second term, even as the larger appeal keeps the broader legal fight alive.