With a sentencing hearing set for Friday, President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday requested that the Supreme Court halt criminal proceedings in his New York hush money case.
In order to give the justices time to take action prior to the sentencing hearing, the court has instructed New York prosecutors to reply to Trump’s request by Thursday morning.
“This Court should enter an immediate stay of further proceedings in the New York trial court to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” the attorneys for Trump stated in the latest petition.
They contend that since the Supreme Court acknowledged earlier this year that Trump was covered by presidential immunity, the case should not proceed.
“The Constitution, established legal precedent, and the Supreme Court’s historic decision on immunity mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement.
A judge in the New York appeals court refused to block the punishment on Tuesday.
In May, Trump was found guilty of fabricating documents pertaining to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has refuted Daniels’ testimony that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006.
According to Trump’s attorneys, some of the evidence presented throughout the trial was on official acts that Trump took while in the White House. They further go so far as to claim that a president-elect ought to be protected from criminal prosecution in the same way that a current president is.
The trial’s judge, Juan Merchan, first delayed Trump’s July sentence after the Supreme Court’s decision that month established a new criterion for presidential immunity.
However, Merchan subsequently came to the conclusion that Trump is not immune until he takes the oath of office. He then ordered that Trump be sentenced on Friday morning for 34 felony counts of manipulating company records.
The Supreme Court’s controversial decision on presidential immunity occurred in a different case when Trump was accused of trying to have the 2020 presidential election results overturned. That case has now been abandoned, and Trump is set to win the presidency once more.
The court decided that some of the president’s official actions are not subject to criminal prosecution. A president’s personal actions would not be covered by the protection.
Attorney D. John Sauer, whom the president-elect plans to name as his administration’s top legal advocate and solicitor general, submitted Trump’s Supreme Court request. Todd Blanche, another Trump attorney named in the filing, is Trump’s choice to serve as deputy attorney general.
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