Trump seeks Supreme Court’s intervention in New York “hush money” case
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to intervene in his “hush money” case in New York ahead of his scheduled sentencing Friday.
In a request for emergency relief filed with the Supreme Court, the president-elect asked the justices to temporarily block further criminal proceedings in New York state court, including his upcoming sentencing, before he takes office. Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records last summer and is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Trump’s bid comes after a New York appeals court on Tuesday rejected his latest effort to postpone his sentencing. His lawyers have argued that a president’s immunity from criminal proceedings extends to the transition period — the time between the election and inauguration. In addition to asking the Supreme Court to enter a stay, Trump’s lawyers said they have simultaneously asked the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to block the proceedings.
In their filing to the Supreme Court, Trump’s lawyers argued that the justices should step in and pause his sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.” During the transition, they wrote, the president-elect is engaging in the “extraordinarily demanding task of preparing to assume the executive power of the United States.”
The president-elect’s effort to toss out the jury verdict “will ultimately result in the dismissal of the District Attorney’s politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning, centered around the wrongful actions and false claims of a disgraced, disbarred serial-liar former attorney, violated President Trump’s due process rights, and had no merit,” predicted lawyer D. John Sauer, who Trump selected to serve as solicitor general in his next term.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office “will respond in court papers.”
Trump became the first former president to be convicted of crimes when a jury found him guilty of 34 state felony counts in late May and concluded he authorized a scheme to falsify records related to reimbursements for a $130,000 “hush money” payment to an adult film star before the 2016 presidential election.
The investigation that led to the New York charges against Trump began in 2018 and has already produced a landmark Supreme Court decision. The court ruled in July 2020 that the Manhattan district attorney had the power to subpoena Trump’s tax records as part of its criminal probe. Trump continued to fight against their release until after his first presidency in 2021, but the Supreme Court rejected his subsequent efforts to shield the financial records from prosecutors.
He was set to be sentenced July 11, but the proceedings were postponed after the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision finding former presidents cannot be federally prosecuted for official actions taken while in office. The ruling stemmed from a different case involving Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which arose out of his alleged efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election. Charges in that case have since been dropped, as Justice Department policy prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump’s sentencing was then set for Sept. 18, but was pushed back again to avoid interfering with the presidential campaign. After Trump was elected to a second term in early November, a Nov. 26 hearing was then delayed as the president-elect and Manhattan prosecutors argued over how to proceed with the case.
New York Justice Juan Merchan then issued an order last week setting Trump’s sentencing for Jan. 10, just 10 days before his inauguration. The New York judge said he does not intend to sentence the president-elect to incarceration and is allowing him to appear virtually instead of in person.
But Trump’s lawyers have said that the sentencing is set to take place as he is preparing to return to the White House and would compromise his ability to conduct an orderly transition. During this time, Sauer wrote, the president-elect is communicating with world leaders, setting his domestic and foreign policy agenda and coordinating with the outgoing Biden administration across federal agencies.
“Forcing President Trump to prepare for a criminal sentencing in a felony case while he is preparing to lead the free world as president of the United States in less than two weeks imposes an intolerable, unconstitutional burden on him that undermines these vital national interests,” Trump’s legal team wrote.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees requests for emergency relief arising from the 2nd Circuit, has ordered Manhattan prosecutors to respond to Trump’s bid by Thursday at 10 a.m.