The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in New York refused on Aug. 18, 2023 to put the E. Jean Carroll defamation case on hold while Donald Trump appealed, and said the appeal was frivolous. The ruling kept the case moving toward its scheduled Jan. 15, 2024 trial date.

Trump had asked for a stay of the proceedings while he pursued his appeal, but U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan declined to stop the case. The order denied the delay request outright, leaving the trial calendar intact.

The decision matters because the Carroll case is one of the civil matters that has continued to shadow Trump’s political calendar. Carroll has already won damages in a separate case involving his attack on her credibility, and the defamation case remains active as it heads toward trial.

Kaplan’s order also sharpened the legal posture around Trump’s appeal by calling it frivolous. That is a blunt rebuke in a case where Trump has repeatedly tried to slow the pace of litigation. For now, the court made clear that the appeal would not buy him more time.