The Supreme Court turned down President-elect Donald Trump’s last-minute effort to postpone his sentencing scheduled for Friday related to his hush-money case in New York, in a close 5-4 decision delivered on Thursday.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump appointed to the Supreme Court in 2020, provided the crucial vote in collaboration with the court’s liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts.
In an emergency appeal submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the president-elect sought to delay his sentencing set for January 10, arguing it could harm “the institution of the Presidency and the functioning of the federal government.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito expressed that they would have supported Trump’s appeal. However, Roberts and Barrett aligned with the other three justices, all nominated by Democratic presidents, against Trump.
“The alleged evidentiary violations during President-elect Trump’s state trial can be appropriately addressed through the normal appeals process,” Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson stated in a brief statement clarifying their ruling.
They further noted, “The impact of sentencing on the President-elect’s duties is relatively minimal given that the trial judge has indicated an intent to issue a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge,’” referring to Judge Juan Merchan’s earlier remarks that he did not anticipate assigning jail time or probation to Trump.
Following the ruling, Trump expressed gratitude toward the Supreme Court but took another shot at Judge Merchan in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“I am grateful for the time and effort of the United States Supreme Court to rectify the significant injustice inflicted on me by the deeply conflicted ‘Acting Justice,’ who should never have been allowed to preside over this case,” Trump wrote in his Thursday evening Truth Social update, responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling and criticizing Judge Merchan (who serves as the Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court).
“Every Legal Scholar has asserted, unequivocally, that this case should never have been initiated. There was no legitimate case against me. In simpler terms, I am innocent of all the fabricated, false charges concocted by the Judge,” Trump further elaborated while outlining his intentions to appeal and denouncing the numerous “witch hunts” targeting him.
The sentencing hearing for the president-elect is scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m., just ten days ahead of his forthcoming inauguration.
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of felony for falsifying business records. Prosecutors accused him of being involved in a “scheme” to increase his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election through hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, while manipulating business records to obscure the truth.
Despite multiple efforts by Trump’s legal representatives to overturn his conviction, including the assertion of presidential immunity, Judge Merchan dismissed their arguments and mandated that the president-elect appear, whether physically or virtually, for sentencing in New York on January 10.
Just hours before his legal team submitted the emergency request on Tuesday, Trump had a phone conversation with Justice Alito—though the conservative judge maintained that they “did not discuss” anything related to the emergency petition.
“William Levi, one of my prior law clerks, requested that I take a call from President-elect Trump concerning his eligibility for a governmental role,” Justice Alito mentioned to ABC News on Wednesday. “We did not cover the emergency application filed today, and in fact, I wasn’t aware at the time of our discussion that such a filing was forthcoming.”
“Additionally, we did not deliberate any other issues that are currently pending or could come up before the Supreme Court in the future or any prior decisions made by the Supreme Court regarding the President-elect,” he continued.
Justice Alito voted in support of Trump’s emergency appeal on Thursday.
