Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer known for beating Donald Trump while representing writer E. Jean Carroll (and her work on the landmark LGBT rights case United States v. Windsor), slammed the Supreme Court for handing the president a string of legal wins in recent months.
In a rousing speech Tuesday at the latest Power 100 luncheon hosted by The Daily Beast Chief’s Creative and Content Officer Joanna Coles, Kaplan called out the court’s conservative majority for repeatedly siding with Trump.
“The problem is, as you all know, is the Supreme Court, for reasons that we could speculate or debate about for hours, has given Trump wins in the vast majority of the cases, which are on what’s called a shadow docket—cases decided without any full briefing or argument on kind of an emergency basis,” Kaplan said to a crowd of nearly 100 top female industry leaders at the New York City restaurant Marea. “Why? I wish I knew the answer.”
(The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration in about 84% of shadow docket cases, according to a September report from the Center for American Progress.)
The day’s Power 100 luncheon is the latest in a series of events hosted by Coles that serves as, in her own words, a way for “interesting women across different industries” to network and build community.
“The goal is for you to all meet each other,” Coles said. “But what I like to do is hear from people about what’s going on in their world.”
Kaplan’s remarks came a day before SCOTUS will convene to review the president’s use of the International Emergency Powers Act (IEPA) to enact sweeping tariffs. The statute is typically reserved for times of national crisis sparked by threats from abroad, but the president has used it to slap levies on dozens of countries—among them some of the United States’ most crucial trading partners.
“It’ll be very telling to see what the justices do, because the Constitution could not be clearer that the power to order tariffs lies with Congress and not the president,” Kaplan said. “So everyone should listen to what happens tomorrow—and there’ll be a very telling sign.”
In her remarks, Kaplan referred to her client Carroll as “the bravest woman in the United States.” Carroll’s 2024 defamation trial against the president, who she had accused of defaming her by calling her a liar over sexual assault allegations she had leveled against him, ended with a jury awarding her $83.3 million.
Trump — who suffered another blow last month when a federal appeals court denied his bid to overturn that verdict — has asked the Supreme Court to toss a separate $5 million judgment handed down in May 2023. But the justices are unlikely to take the case, Kaplan has said.
“If they take it, it will also be a sign of what’s coming up,” she warned.
Among the speakers at the Power 100 event was MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who also emphasized the importance of staying informed.
“So much is on the line,” Ruhle said. “It doesn’t matter what your beliefs are. The most important thing is the truth, and we need to make sure we know it, we understand it, and we’re sharing it with our communities.”
Another speaker was Jill Hazelbaker, chief marketing officer and senior vice president at Uber, which co-sponsored the event. Hazelbaker emphasized Uber’s commitment to building products for women and also commended the leaders in front of her.
“When we build products for women, our entire platform becomes better and safer, and so it’s really terrific to be in this room and to see so many women who embody strength and courage and resilience and grit, and they really are mirrors for the communities that we serve around the globe,” she said.
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