President Trump can’t postpone E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him by using an immunity defense, a judge ruled Thursday — citing a recent Supreme Court decision in a case to subpoena the president’s tax records.
Trump had asked a judge for a stay in the Elle magazine “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist’s case, while a similar defamation lawsuit is decided on appeal and while he is still in office.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Verna Saunders denied the request in light of the high court’s ruling last month that Trump is not immune from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s efforts to subpoena eight years of his tax records and financial statements.
“While the Vance Court’s decision permits the issuance of a criminal subpoena to a sitting President, its analysis and conclusions address the same issues and questions raised by defendant in this action,” Saunders’ ruling read.
In particular, one of those questions is, “Whether the Supremacy Clause of the constitution bars a state court from exercising jurisdiction over a sitting President of the United States during his term,” Saunders said. “No, it does not.”
Saunders added that the Supreme Court decision can be applied to all state court lawsuits against the president, “including those involving his or her unofficial/personal conduct.”
Carroll sued Trump in November, claiming that he defamed her when he publicly denied her allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room around 1995.
“We are very gratified,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said of Saunders’ decision. “We are now eager to move forward with discovery so that we can prove that Donald Trump defamed E. Jean Carroll when he lied about her in connection with her brave decision to tell the truth about the fact that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her.”
Lawyers for Trump didn’t immediately return a request for comment.