US Supreme Court denies to pause Donald Trump's hush money sentencing

The US Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump's request to delay his sentencing in a New York state court over criminal charges linked to hush money payments. The court cited appeal options and minimal sentencing burdens.

In Short

• Sentencing to proceed with likely unconditional discharge
• Trump found guilty of falsifying records for hush money
• First former US president criminally prosecuted and convicted

The US Supreme Court rejected on Thursday Donald Trump's request to halt his sentencing in a New York state court for the president-elect's conviction on criminal charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

The court in a 5-4 decision denied Trump's last-minute bid prevent his sentencing, scheduled for Friday at 9:30 am (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 brief order gave two reasons for the decision.

"First, the alleged evidentiary violations at president-elect Trump's state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. 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."

The trial judge in Trump's case, Justice Juan Merchan, said last week he was not inclined to sentence the Republican president-elect to prison and would likely grant him unconditional discharge. This would place a guilty judgment 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 from the decision, noting they would have granted Trump's request.

Trump had sought relief from the justices as he pursued a state court appeal to resolve questions of presidential immunity following a Supreme Court ruling last July that granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts.

The Supreme Court acted after New York's top court on Thursday rejected Trump's request to halt his sentencing.

Manhattan prosecutors made a filing at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, opposing Trump's bid for a stay.

"Defendant now asks this court to take the extraordinary step of intervening in a pending state criminal trial to prevent the scheduled sentencing from taking place - before final judgment has been entered by the trial court, and before any direct appellate review of defendant's conviction. There is no basis for such intervention," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office wrote in a filing.

Trump in a Supreme Court filing made public on Wednesday asked for proceedings in the case to stop as he seeks an appeal to resolve questions of presidential immunity following the Supreme Court's ruling last July that granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts.

"This appeal will ultimately result in the dismissal of the District Attorney's politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning," Trump's lawyer John Sauer wrote in the filing.

Sauer is Trump's pick to serve as US solicitor general, the government's chief lawyer at the Supreme Court.

Trump was found guilty last May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a USD 130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 US election about a sexual encounter she has said she had with Trump a decade earlier, which he has denied. Prosecutors have said the payment was designed to help Trump's chances in the 2016 election, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted and the first former president convicted of a crime.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump's lawyers contend that prosecutors improperly admitted evidence of Trump's official acts during the trial. They also argue that, as president-elect, Trump is immune from prosecution during the period between his November election victory and his inauguration.

'ONLY ONE PRESIDENT AT A TIME'

In their filing on Thursday to the Supreme Court, the New York prosecutors said that "all of the evidence defendant challenged in his post-trial motion either concerned unofficial conduct that is not subject to any immunity, or is a matter of public record that is not subject to preclusion, as the trial court correctly held."

As to Trump's argument that he is immune as president-elect, the prosecutors said this "extraordinary immunity claim is unsupported by any decision from any court."

"It is axiomatic that there is only one president at a time," they added.

In the 6-3 July ruling authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court said immunity for former presidents is "absolute" with respect to their "core constitutional powers," and a former president has "at least a presumptive immunity" for "acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility," meaning prosecutors face a high legal bar to overcome that presumption.

Merchan in December rejected Trump's immunity argument, finding that the hush money case dealt with Trump's personal conduct, not his official acts as president.

In urging the justices to halt Trump's sentencing, his lawyers argued as president-elect, Trump is immune from prosecution "in the brief but crucial period" between his November election victory and his inauguration.

Ahead of last year's election, the Supreme Court in August rejected a bid by the state of Missouri's Republican attorney general to halt Trump's sentencing.