Prosecutors urged the U.S. Supreme Court to follow suit after New York’s top court on Thursday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to postpone his sentencing on Friday.
The chief clerk for the New York Court of Appeals wrote a brief letter to Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, stating that a judge had examined his proposed order to suspend Trump’s sentencing and “decided to sign the order.”
This was Trump’s third denial of this kind this week. His motion to stop the case is still pending in the Supreme Court.
Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office urged the conservative high court, which consists of three justices chosen by Trump, to allow the case to proceed in a petition on Thursday.
In order to stop the scheduled sentencing from occurring before the trial court has reached a final verdict and before any direct appellate review of the defendant’s guilt, Trump intends “to take the extraordinary step of intervening in a pending state criminal trial.” The DA’s filing stated that there is no justification for such an intervention.
In a brief Thursday evening, Trump said that the DA was downplaying “the importance of the Presidential transition and the need for an energetic executive” and that the high court court has the power to take action.
In a petition on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers contended that in order “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” the Supreme Court should halt the sentencing process for his felony falsifying business records.
Since Trump was president at the time of the disputed reimbursement payments, they contend that the case should not proceed because his conduct were shielded by presidential immunity.
According to the DA’s office, Trump’s actions in the case where he was accused of fabricating documents to conceal the hush money payment to a porn star made by his personal lawyer in the final days of the 2016 presidential election had to do with “unofficial acts” that were not protected by presidential immunity.
Actress Stormy Daniels had told Trump about the sexual encounter, but Trump had denied it. Additionally, he has attempted to postpone the sentencing by claiming that, as president-elect, he already enjoys presidential immunity.
The New York State Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, rejected Trump’s attempt to delay the sentencing on Tuesday, and the case’s presiding judge, Juan Merchan, rejected his stay request on Monday.
In a ruling last week, Merchan stated that he plans to give Trump an unconditional discharge, which would maintain the conviction but not impose any additional sanctions.