As usual the OP is not right. Trump needs to appeal this directly to SCOTUS since it violates the 8th amendment clause in regards to excessive fines.
One cannot appeal a state court ruling to the U.S. S. Ct. until appealing all the way up to the state's highest court and losing. Trump is two appeals away from that.
Nornally a civil case cannot go to SCOTUS ...
The U.S. S. Ct. takes appeals in civil cases all the time. I've been involved in a number of those. There only needs to be a federal issue in which the S. Ct. is interested. It doesn't even need to be a constitutional issue. However, I think that most appeals to the S. Ct. from state court cases do involve a constitutional issue.
