The president-elect is scheduled to be sentenced in a criminal case in New York 10 days before the start of his second term.
US President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to do so Pause actions In his New York criminal case involving secret payments to an adult movie star.
The court filing released Wednesday comes just two days before Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the case.
Trump was convicted last May of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors said Trump did in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election to conceal a case that could have caused political damage.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan ordered the ruling to be issued on Friday, just 10 days before Trump takes office.
In the Supreme Court filing, Trump’s lawyers asked for an immediate stay of the ruling “to prevent gross injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
Such a stay would buy time for Trump’s ongoing appeal of the case to move forward. The Supreme Court ordered the plaintiffs to respond to the request by Thursday.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling last year empowers presidents Broad immunity From criminal prosecution means that some evidence should not be presented in the case.
They pushed for the conviction to be overturned.
The appeal to the Supreme Court – the US Supreme Court, which is overwhelmingly conservative 6-3, including three Trump appointees – comes after two lower courts rejected Trump’s request for a stay of execution.
Historical conviction
The case in New York made Trump the first former president in US history to be indicted. He is set to return to office as the first president who is also a convicted felon.
Trump has also been criminally charged in three other cases: one federal case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election; One federal case involving the concealment and storage of classified White House documents; One case in Georgia relates to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election there.
However, Trump’s election victory was likely Death knell For the two federal cases, with the Justice Department’s long-standing policy barring the prosecution of sitting presidents.
US Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss both cases after Trump’s victory.
The future of the case in Georgia is also uncertain, as the state Court of Appeals recently dismissed the prosecutor. While the state case is not subject to the same restrictions as the federal case, it is unlikely to move forward while Trump is in office.
Trump’s victory in the 2024 election also raised thorny questions about how his sentence in New York would be affected.
However, in court filings, Judge Merchan indicated that he would sentence Trump to “unconditional release,” meaning his conviction would stand, but he would not face jail time, a fine, or probation.
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