The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday refused to delay Donald Trump’s New York City hush money case on the eve of his scheduled sentencing, marking a significant defeat for the president-elect that means his historic conviction will be finalized before he retakes office.
In a 5-4 decision, the nation’s high court denied Trump’s request for an emergency stay, or pause, of the criminal proceedings in his Manhattan case as he fights a set of rulings by state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, meaning the proceeding will go forward Friday.
The judges were not moved by Trump’s claim that the sentencing would pose an undue burden as he prepares to take office on Jan. 20.
“The burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing,” the court’s order read, referencing Merchan’s signal last week that he would not impose any punishment.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump-appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the court’s three liberal justices in rejecting Trump’s bid. Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh would have granted the application, the order read.
Earlier Thursday, in asking the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s bid for a delay, prosecutors had warned pausing the sentencing threatened to delay him being brought to justice for years. They said now was the time to bring finality to the case in which Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records for covering up a payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels to suppress her story about an alleged sordid sexual encounter in a scheme that violated New York election law.
Trump’s flurry of last-minute appeals was sparked when Merchan unexpectedly scheduled his sentencing for Friday at 9:30 a.m. in a decision last week in which he refused to throw out the case. He said that the president-elect could appear for sentencing by video and that he was inclined to sentence him to an unconditional discharge, meaning he would not face jail time, fines, or probation.
While Trump is not expected to face any form of punishment, the sentencing will formalize his conviction and officially classify him as a convicted felon just 10 days before his second presidential term begins, a first in history.
Trump’s lawyers failed to convince Merchan and two New York appeals courts to halt the sentencing. They asked the Supreme Court’s nine justices in a last-ditch attempt to intervene on Wednesday, arguing that the Constitution required the case to be paused as Trump tried to fight Merchan’s rulings in appeals hinging on Trump’s arguments that he is shielded from the criminal process by presidential immunity.
Among other arguments, Trump’s lawyers have said that he should receive immunity as the president-in-waiting and that Merchan should have barred evidence relating to his first presidency at his trial, including testimony from his former White House staffers about private conversations about hush money and threatening tweets directed at Michael Cohen from Trump’s presidential Twitter account.
The Supreme Court order Thursday said Trump’s complaints about evidence allowed at his trial could be addressed “in the ordinary course on appeal” and did not warrant intervention.
In opposing the request, prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued that there was no basis for Supreme Court intervention and that Trump’s legal positions were unsupported by any court anywhere.
Asking the Supreme Court to agree with multiple New York judges, they said the high court’s ruling from last year granting a president sweeping protections from criminal prosecution did not apply to the 2016 hush-money scheme, devised before Trump’s first presidency, or to Trump now as he prepares to retake office.
“[Defendant] makes the unprecedented claim that the temporary presidential immunity he will possess in the future fully immunizes him now, weeks before he even takes the oath of office, from all state-court criminal process,” prosecutors wrote.
“This extraordinary immunity claim is unsupported by any decision from any court. It is axiomatic that there is only one President at a time.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he appreciated “the time and effort of the United States Supreme Court in trying to remedy the great injustice done to me,” and that he was innocent.
“For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL,” Trump wrote.
A spokeswoman for Bragg declined to comment.
The jury’s May 30 verdict found Trump, 78, guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a scheme to hide embarrassing details about his past from voters.
The Manhattan case was the only one of four brought against Trump after his first term that made it before a jury. When he takes office, he cannot pardon himself of the state-level charges.
