Supreme Court rejects Missouri's effort to delay Trump's sentencing for New York conviction
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a long-shot effort by Missouri’s attorney general to delay Donald Trump’s Sept. 18 sentencing in his New York hush money case until after the November election.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had wanted to ask the court to delay sentencing for Trump’s falsification of business records and lift the remaining parts of New York’s gag order on Trump. The Supreme Court dismissed without comment his request.
Monday's order said Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have allowed Missouri to at least file a lawsuit at the highest court in the land. However, they did not say they necessarily would have signed off on the case.
Bailey argued the sentencing and gag order impedes Trump’s ability to campaign for president, making it difficult for Missouri’s voters to get the information they need to cast a ballot.
Even if the terms of Trump’s sentence don’t affect his travel, Bailey wrote, Trump still needs to be able to freely talk about the case – including challenging the credibility and political motivation of the prosecutors.
'An extraordinary and dangerous end-run'
New York Attorney General Letitia James told the court that Missouri was attempting “an extraordinary and dangerous end-run around former President Trump’s ongoing state court proceedings and the statutory limitations on this Court’s jurisdiction to review state court decisions.”
James also said Trump is free to speak about all the topics voters want to hear about, including Trump’s views on the prosecutor, witnesses, jurors and judge. The restrictions on Trump’s speech are statements intended to “materially interfere with the case,” according to James.
Originally scheduled for July, Trump’s sentencing was moved to September to allow him to argue his conviction should be thrown out because of the Supreme Court’s July immunity ruling. That landmark decision found that presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying 34 business records in order to cover up a 2016 election-interference conspiracy involving hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
After the trial, the Manhattan judge partially lifted gag order restrictions that had protected witnesses and jurors.
Contributing: Marina Pitofksy