Trump waits on Supreme Court after New York's high court declines to stop his hush money sentencing
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's highest court on Thursday declined to block Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as the president-elect's likely last option to prevent it from taking place as scheduled on Friday.
One judge of the New York Court of Appeals issued a brief order declining to grant a hearing to Trump's legal team.
Trump turned to the Supreme Court on Wednesday after New York courts refused to postpone the sentencing by Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan.
Merchan presided over Trump’s trial and conviction last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
In a filing to the nation’s highest court Thursday evening, Trump’s lawyers wrote that Trump and the nation will be “irreparably harmed by letting the sentencing go forward while there are no little to no harms” in delaying it. They claim Trump is immune from criminal proceedings as president-elect and say his trial was spoiled by improper evidence.
Trump’s lawyers made similar arguments in their losing effort in New York's top court, saying that Merchan and the state’s mid-level appellate court both “erroneously failed” to stop the sentencing. They argued that the Constitution requires an automatic pause as they appeal and that the sentencing would disrupt the Republican’s presidential transition as he prepares to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
Prosecutors pushed back, arguing that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to stop the sentencing and that there’s no reason it should take the “extraordinary step” of insinuating itself into a state-level case to halt a sentencing that has already been delayed twice at Trump's request.
“There is a compelling public interest in proceeding to sentencing,” wrote the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case. “Defendant has provided no record support for his claim that his duties as President-elect foreclose him from virtually attending a sentencing that will likely take no more than an hour.”
While Merchan has indicated he will not impose jail time, fines or probation, Trump’s lawyers argued a felony conviction would still have intolerable side effects, including distracting him as he prepares to take office.
Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer called the case politically motivated and said sentencing now would be a “grave injustice." Sauer is also Trump’s pick to be solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court.
The emergency motion to the U.S. Supreme Court was submitted to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who hears emergency appeals from New York.
Trump’s attorneys also argue that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president. At the least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out on the immunity issue.
Judges in New York have found that Trump's convictions related to personal matters rather than the official presidential acts at the core of the Supreme Court's ruling.
Prosecutors argue Trump's claims aren’t strong enough to overturn his conviction and his appeal shouldn't freeze the case because it's about evidence rather than the core charges.
Any pause now would likely push the schedule out past Trump's inauguration, creating a yearslong or indefinite delay, prosecutors wrote.
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Sisak reported from New York, Whitehurst from Washington.
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