WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump's request to block a New York judge from sentencing him on Friday for his felony conviction in a hush money trial.
The vote was 5-4, with conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh saying they had granted Trump's request.
The decision means Trump will become the first president to commit a crime when sworn into office on January 20.
In an unsigned opinion, the majority said Trump would still be free to appeal his conviction later and that the sentencing hearing would not be burdensome because he would not be required to attend.
Trump's lawyers filed an urgent appeal on Wednesday, that was based on a thin claim of immunity.
Last year, judges ruled that a president or ex-president could not be prosecuted for his “official actions” while in office.
This week, Trump's lawyers argued that the justices should expand the immunity rule to prevent the president-elect from being held responsible now for a private criminal plot that began before he was elected president.
Trump was charged with falsifying business records, a felony under New York law. He wrote checks to Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney, to repay a $130,000 payment to an adult film star to buy her silence before the 2016 election. The payments were listed as legal costs.
A New York jury convicted him on 34 counts.
Trump's trial lawyers urged Judge Juan Merchan to delay his sentencing until after the November election.
After Trump won re-election, they argued that the new president enjoyed immunity from all pending criminal cases, including his conviction for falsifying business records.
New York prosecutors asked the court on Thursday to reject Trump's “extraordinary immunity claim.”
“While serving as a private citizen, the defendant (Trump) was charged, tried and convicted for conduct that he acknowledges is entirely unofficial,” they said. In his appeal, he “makes the unprecedented claim that the temporary presidential immunity he will have in the future now fully immunizes him” before he is sworn in as president again, it said.
Judge Alito voted for Trump.
On Tuesday, a day before his lawyers filed their emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, Trump arranged to speak with Alito about one of his former employees. Alito confirmed the call to ABC News.
“William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding (Levi’s) qualifications for a government position,” Alito said. “I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon.”
He said they had not discussed the “emergency motion” regarding Trump's New York conviction, which had not yet been filed with the court.
“I was not even aware that such a request would be made at the time of our conversation,” Alito said. “We also did not discuss other matters that are pending or may be pending before the Supreme Court in the future, or previous Supreme Court decisions involving the president-elect.”