Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the media with attorney Todd Blanche as he arrives for his criminal trial on charges of concealing hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, May 30, 2024.
Michael M. Santiago | via Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday narrowly denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to stay proceedings in a New York criminal hush-money case, clearing the way for him to be sentenced Friday morning.
Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, joined liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the 5-4 decision opposing Trump’s emergency stay bid.
The court said in a brief order that other conservatives, Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would have granted the president-elect’s request. revealed.
The majority ruled that Trump’s sentencing would impose a “relatively negligible” burden on his presidential responsibilities because, according to the order, he is expected to receive a sentence that carries no actual punishment.
The five justices were unmoved by Trump’s claims that certain evidence was used in criminal trials.
The majority ruled that these alleged evidentiary violations “may be addressed through the normal appellate process,” according to the order.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office opposed the suspended sentence, arguing that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction over the case because Trump had not completed all of his appeals of his convictions in state courts.
The Supreme Court’s decision came hours after the state’s highest appeals court declined to delay sentencing.
President Trump said, “I respect the court’s opinion.”
“We saw what they said, but they asked for an appeal, so I think that was actually a very good opinion for us,” Trump said at a roundtable event with 22 Republican governors.
President Trump said, “We will appeal (the conviction) only on a psychological basis anyway.” “Because honestly, it’s shameful.”
Trump was found guilty in Manhattan state court in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
President Trump’s lawyers argued in a Supreme Court filing Wednesday that all further proceedings should be put on hold while the president-elect appeals the ruling.
They wrote in the 51-page filing that the case should be put on hold “to prevent serious injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
They argued that President-elect Trump is immune from criminal prosecution. New York court Judge Juan Merchan rejected that argument.
The lawyers also argued that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office violated Trump’s immunity privileges by using evidence of his official presidential conduct during the hush trial.
The Supreme Court significantly expanded the scope of presidential immunity by ruling in July last year that former presidents enjoy “presumptive immunity” from all public acts while in office.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued in papers filed Thursday that the Supreme Court has no grounds to intervene in the case.
The group of lawyers for the president-elect includes several people who have been selected for top roles in the incoming administration’s Justice Department.
The New York state appeals court and the state’s highest court both denied Trump’s request to pause the sentencing hearing Friday morning.
Merchant had already postponed Trump’s sentencing several times before and after the Nov. 5 election.
The judge is expected to sentence President Trump to ‘unconditional dismissal’ without any conditions such as prison time, probation, or fines.
On Wednesday afternoon, ABC News first reported that President-elect Trump spoke with conservative Justice Samuel Alito a day before he asked the court for an immediate stay.
Alito confirmed the phone call took place Tuesday afternoon, but said in a statement that no hush-money case had been filed.
“We did not discuss the emergency motion he filed today, and in fact, we did not even know at the time of our conversation that such a motion would be filed,” Alito said.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
