Written by Andrew Chung and John Kruzel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from Donald Trump to stay his sentencing in a New York state court convicting the president-elect on criminal charges related to a bribe payment to a porn actress.
The court, by a vote of 5 to 4, rejected Trump's last-minute attempt to prevent the pronouncement of the ruling scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) in New York State Court in Manhattan. Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court's three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — in the court's majority in denying Trump's request.
The summary order gave two reasons for this decision.
“First, the alleged violations of evidence in the trial of President-elect Trump can be addressed in state court in the ordinary course of appeal. Second, the burden that the ruling would impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively small in light of what the trial court stated. Intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional release’ After a short virtual hearing.”
Judge Juan Merchan, the judge in Trump's case, said last week that he was not inclined to sentence the Republican president-elect to prison and would likely grant him unconditional release. This would impose a finding of guilt on Trump's record, but would not impose custody, a fine or probation.
Four conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh — dissented, indicating that they would have granted Trump's request.
Trump had sought relief from the justices as he pursued an appeal in state court to resolve presidential immunity issues following a Supreme Court ruling last July that granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official actions.
The high court moved after the New York Supreme Court on Thursday denied Trump's request to stay his sentencing.
Manhattan prosecutors filed a filing with the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, opposing Trump's request for a stay.
“Defendant now asks this court to take the extraordinary step of intervening in a pending state criminal trial to prevent the execution of the scheduled judgment – prior to issuance of final judgment by the trial court, and prior to any direct appellate review of defendant's conviction. There is 'no basis for such interference,'” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office wrote in its filing.
In a Supreme Court filing made public on Wednesday, Trump requested a stay of proceedings in the case while he seeks an appeal to resolve issues of presidential immunity following a Supreme Court ruling last July that granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official actions.
“This appeal will ultimately dismiss a politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the beginning,” Trump attorney John Sawyer wrote in the lawsuit.
Sawer was Trump's choice to serve as Attorney General of the United States and the government's chief lawyer on the Supreme Court.
Trump was convicted last May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 US elections regarding a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump a decade ago, something he denied. . Prosecutors said the payment was intended to boost Trump's chances in the 2016 election, when he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted and the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Trump denied any wrongdoing.
Trump's lawyers contend that prosecutors improperly admitted evidence of Trump's official actions during the trial. They also argue that Trump, as president-elect, enjoyed immunity from prosecution during the period between his November election victory and his inauguration.
“Only one boss at a time”
In their filing Thursday with the Supreme Court, New York prosecutors said that “all of the evidence objected to by the defendant in his post-trial motion either relates to off-the-record conduct that is not subject to any immunity, or is a matter of public record that is not subject to any immunity.” It has no place in being banned, as the court rightly saw.”
Regarding Trump's argument that he enjoys immunity as president-elect, prosecutors said that “this claim of extraordinary immunity is not supported by any decision of any court.”
They added: “It is self-evident that there can only be one president at a time.”
In a ruling issued by Chief Justice John Roberts on July 3-6, the Supreme Court said that the immunity of former presidents is “absolute” with respect to their “fundamental constitutional powers,” and that the former president enjoys “at least presumptive immunity” for as long as he “acts within the periphery.” “For its official liability,” which means that plaintiffs face a high legal hurdle to overcome this presumption.
Merchan in December rejected Trump's immunity argument, finding that the hush money issue concerned Trump's personal conduct, not his official actions as president.
In urging the justices to halt Trump's sentence, his lawyers said that as president-elect, Trump enjoys immunity from prosecution “in the short but crucial period” between his November election victory and his inauguration.
Before last year's elections, the Supreme Court in August rejected a request from the Republican Attorney General of Missouri to halt Trump's sentence.
