PAULA JONES

While he’s far from the only U.S. president to be dogged by legal and ethical scandals, Donald Trump now occupies a unique place in history as the first ever indicted on criminal charges.

That has quickly become a question in two closely watched defamation lawsuits filed by women who say President Donald Trump smeared them while denying their sexual assault allegations. Lawyers for the women, E. Jean Carroll and Summer Zervos, are now trying to persuade New York courts that the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling strengthens their arguments for letting the suits go forward. The Supreme Court has now spoken, Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote to the judge in her defamation case last week. Past Supreme Court cases established that presidents are subject to federal criminal subpoenas and to federal civil suits regarding private behavior. The court generally views criminal cases as more compelling matters than civil suits, said Albany Law School professor Vincent Bonventre, who maintains a blog on the Supreme Court.