President-elect set to be sentenced in New York criminal case 10 days before beginning second term.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause proceedings in his New York criminal case related to hush-money payments to an adult film star.
The court filing released on Wednesday comes just two days before Trump is set to be sentenced in the case.
Trump was convicted last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors said Trump did in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election to hide an affair that could have been politically damaging.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan ordered the sentencing to take place on Friday, just 10 days before Trump takes office.
In the Supreme Court filing, Trump’s lawyers asked for an immediate stay of the sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government”.
Such a stay would give time for Trump’s ongoing appeal of the case to move forward. The Supreme Court ordered prosecutors to respond to the request by Thursday.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that last year’s Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution means that some of the evidence should not have been presented in the case.
They have pushed for the conviction to be thrown out.
The appeal to the Supreme Court – the top court in the US, which is dominated by a 6-3 conservative supermajority, including three Trump appointees – comes after two lower courts rejected Trump’s request for a stay.
Historic conviction
The case in New York made Trump the first former president in US history to be indicted. He is set to re-enter office as the first president to also be a convicted felon.
Trump was also criminally indicted in three other cases: One federal case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election; one federal case related to hiding and hoarding classified White House documents; and one case in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results there.
However, Trump’s election victory served as a likely death knell for the two federal cases, with longstanding Department of Justice policy preventing the prosecution of sitting presidents.
US Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss both cases following Trump’s win.
The future of the case in Georgia is also uncertain, with a state appeals court recently removing the top prosecutor. While the state case is not subject to the same restrictions as the federal case, it is considered unlikely that it would move forward while Trump is in office.
Trump’s 2024 election victory also raised thorny questions over how his New York sentencing would be affected.
However, in court filings, Judge Merchan has signalled that he will sentence Trump to “unconditional discharge”, meaning his conviction would stand, but he would not face prison, a fine or probation.
