WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to block a New York judge from sentencing him on Friday for his felony conviction in a hush money trial.
The justices “should order an immediate stay of the criminal proceedings against President Trump in the New York court, including but not limited to the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025,” his attorney D. John Sauer said in an emergency filing earlier Wednesday.
“In no event shall a sitting president or president-elect be subject to a case-by-case review of presidential burdens by a single judge—an inquiry that itself violates the separation of powers and the Supremacy Clause. “, he wrote.
“Fundamentally, forcing President Trump to defend himself in a criminal trial and appear at a sentencing hearing at the height of the presidential transition poses a constitutionally unacceptable risk of disruption to America’s national security and vital interests,” wrote he.
The New York case was heard entirely in state courts as part of a prosecution initiated by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Trump was charged with falsifying business records, a felony under New York law, when he repaid his former lawyer Michael Cohen the $130,000 he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Trump wrote 34 checks describing these payments as legal fees, and he was convicted on 34 counts.
Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, said he would not sentence Trump to prison but refused to postpone sentencing.
Two weeks ago, Sauer filed an unusual friend-of-the-court letter in the pending TikTok case, asking the justices to put the matter on hold and give the new president time to work out a deal.
On Friday, the court will consider TikTok's free speech claim that it would violate the 1st Amendment to shut down the popular video site in the United States due to security concerns about its Chinese parent company.