Donald Trump will be sentenced on Friday in his New York “hush money” case, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The justices, by a 5-4 majority, rejected the president-elect’s last-minute request to delay proceedings, meaning that he will be sentenced just over a week before he is due to take office.
Mr Trump, 78, was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York this year in an alleged attempt to cover up an affair with Stormy Daniels, the adult film star.
Amy Coney Barrett, whom Mr Trump appointed to the court in 2020, and chief justice John Roberts sides with the three liberals on the court to rule against the Republican.
Four conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh – said they would have granted Trump’s request.
In a short statement, the Court said that some of Mr Trump’s objections to the sentencing going ahead could be handled “in the ordinary course on appeal”.
It went on to say that it would impose a “relatively insubstantial” burden on the president-elect’s responsibilities as Juan Merchan, the judge in charge of the case, has signalled that he would not face jail time or other penalties.
Mr Trump’s sentencing will now be held in Manhattan on Friday at 9.30am (2.30pm UK).
Sentencing expected to be ‘relatively insubstantial’
The brief order gave two reasons for the decision.
“First, the alleged evidentiary violations at president-elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal.
“Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing.”
Mr Trump said in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after the Supreme Court’s order: “I read it, and I thought was a fair decision, actually.”
Trump wrote on his social media platform: “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL.”
Lawyers acting for Mr Trump had repeatedly attempted to have his conviction thrown out and sentencing delayed, arguing that it would interfere with his work as he prepares to enter the White House for the second time.
“Forcing President Trump to defend a criminal case and appear for a criminal sentencing hearing at the apex of the Presidential transition creates a constitutionally intolerable risk of disruption to national security and America’s vital interests,” they told justices this week.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office said the notion that Mr Trump was entitled to immunity as president-elect was “utterly baseless”.
“The President-elect is, by definition, not yet the President,” they argued in a court filing on Thursday.
“The President-elect therefore does not perform any Article II functions under the Constitution, and there are no Article II functions that would be burdened by ordinary criminal process involving the President-elect.”
Waiting until after Jan 20, when Mr Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president, would “pose much more severe and potentially insuperable obstacles to sentencing and finality”, it added.
On Tuesday, a New York appeals court denied the president-elect’s request to delay his sentencing, and the state’s highest court followed suit on Thursday.
‘Illegitimate political attack’
Justice Merchan has previously suggested he may issue an unconditional discharge to Mr Trump, which would mark a rare and lenient alternative to prison or probation.
The move “appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow defendant to pursue his appellate options,” he said in an 18-page decision released last week.
At the time, Mr Trump criticised the decision on his Truth Social platform as an “illegitimate political attack” that was “nothing but a Rigged Charade”.
The president-elect was found guilty in May of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to Ms Daniels, allegedly to conceal an affair that could have harmed his 2016 campaign for the White House.
It marked the first time a US president – former or sitting – had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Although falsifying business records is a class E felony in New York and therefore punishable by up to four years in prison, legal experts cast doubt on whether the 78-year-old Republican would face prison time.
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