SCOTUS Denies Trump Bid To Delay Felony Sentencing

The Supreme Court denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay Friday’s sentencing in a New York City hush money case where he was convicted of 34 felonies for illegally labeling payments to a lawyer as legal expenses.

The high court delivered its ruling Thursday night, leaving the president no other avenue to halt his sentencing by Judge Juan Merchan scheduled for Friday morning, just 10 days before Trump reclaims the Oval Office. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three leftist judges to deny Trump’s final effort to delay the proceedings in Merchan’s court.

The justices in the majority gave two reasons for their decision in the brief one-page ruling.

“First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal,” they wrote. “Second, 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.”

Trump’s attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to put a hold on the proceedings until the conclusion of an appeal to the conviction in the New York court system.

Four of the court’s conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, said they would have granted Trump’s request to delay Friday’s sentencing.

Trump was convicted of 34 felonies by a Manhattan jury last year over a $130,000 “hush money” payment to sex seller Stormy Daniels in 2016. The statute of limitations had already passed on the crimes, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had campaign to be the city’s top prosecutor on a platform of prosecuting the former and now future president. Bragg re-opened the investigation and received federal assistance to pursue charges previously declined by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Southern District of New York’s U.S. attorney’s office. 

Judge Merchan, a Democrat donor whose daughter raised millions to defeat Trump, denied the president-elect’s request to delay the sentencing last week but signaled no jail time would be ordered.

Trump reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision with a post on Truth Social and pledged to keep challenging his criminal conviction.

“This was nothing other than Weaponization of our Justice System against a Political Opponent. It’s called Lawfare, and nothing like this has ever happened in the United States of America, and it should never be allowed to happen again,” Trump said. “To this day, this highly political and corrupt Judge has put a gag order on me, which takes away my First Amendment right to speak about very important aspects of the case. For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL.”

Tristan Justice is a national correspondent for The Federalist and the co-author of “Fat and Unhappy: How ‘Body Positivity’ Is Killing Us (and How to Save Yourself).” He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here. Buy “Fat and Unhappy” here.