Former U.S. President Donald Trump, alongside his attorney Todd Blanche, speaks to the media as he arrives for his criminal trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Via Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday narrowly denied a request by President-elect Donald Trump to halt proceedings in his New York criminal hush money case, clearing the way for him to be sentenced on Friday morning.
Two conservatives — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — joined liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the 5-4 decision opposing Trump’s bid for an emergency stay.
The other conservatives, Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would have granted the president-elect’s request, the court said in a brief order.
The majority determined that Trump’s sentencing would impose a “relatively insubstantial” burden on his presidential responsibilities since he is expected to receive a sentence that entails no actual punishment, according to the order.
The five justices were also unswayed by Trump’s arguments about the use of certain evidence during his criminal trial.
Those alleged evidentiary violations “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal,” the majority ruled, according to the order.
In arguing against the stay of sentencing, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had argued the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction over the case because Trump has not exhausted his appeals of his conviction in state court.
The Supreme Court’s decision came hours after New York state’s highest appeals court refused to delay the sentencing.
Trump said, “I respect the court’s opinion.”
“I think it was actually a very good opinion for us, because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal,” Trump said at a roundtable event with 22 Republican governors.
“We’re going to appeal [the conviction] anyway, just psychologically,” Trump said. “Because, frankly, it’s a disgrace.”
Trump was convicted last May in state court in Manhattan of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s attorneys in a filing Wednesday at the Supreme Court filing argued that all further proceedings should be put on hold while the president-elect appeals the verdict.
The case should be stayed to “prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” they wrote in the 51-page filing.
They argued that Trump, as president-elect, is immune from criminal prosecution. New York trial court Judge Juan Merchan had rejected that claim.
The lawyers also argued that the Manhattan D.A.’s Office violated Trump’s immunity privileges by using evidence of his official presidential acts during the hush money trial.
The Supreme Court last July greatly expanded the scope of presidential immunity when it ruled that former presidents enjoy “presumptive immunity” for all their official acts in office.
Prosecutors for Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg in a filing Thursday argued that “there is no basis” for the Supreme Court to intervene in the case.
The group of lawyers for the president-elect includes several who have been picked for top roles in the next administration’s Department of Justice.
A New York appeals court and the state’s highest court had both denied Trump’s bid to pause his Friday morning sentencing hearing.
Merchan had already postponed Trump’s sentencing numerous times, both before and after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The judge is expected to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which means Trump will not receive jail time, probation, fines or any other conditions.
On Wednesday afternoon, ABC News first reported that Trump spoke with conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito one day before the president-elect asked the court for the immediate stay.
Alito confirmed that the Tuesday afternoon phone call took place, but said in a statement that the hush-money case did not come up.
“We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed,” Alito said.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
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