The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge on June 29, 2023, rejected Donald Trump’s late attempt to use presidential immunity as a shield in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case, leaving the lawsuit in place and refusing to let him change course after the fact. The court did not decide whether Trump had defamed Carroll. Instead, it held that he had waited too long to raise the immunity theory and could not revive the case by adding a new defense at that stage.

That procedural ruling mattered because Trump had tried to push the case out before it could move further into discovery and other pretrial steps. The judge declined to do that. In plain terms, the court said Trump could not save himself from the lawsuit with an argument he had not properly raised earlier. The effect was to keep Carroll’s claim moving forward.

The order was narrower than a sweeping verdict on presidential power. It did not say former presidents can never invoke immunity in a defamation case. It said Trump could not use that particular defense here, at that point in the case, after delaying it until late in the litigation. That distinction matters: the decision was about waiver and timing, not a broad constitutional declaration.

The ruling also fit a pattern in Trump’s legal fights. He has repeatedly tested theories meant to put his conduct beyond ordinary legal rules, then argued for dismissal before a case can reach the merits. In this instance, the court would not let him reset the rules midstream. Carroll’s case stayed alive, and Trump was left to keep litigating instead of getting an early exit.