Former President Donald Trump exits from the courtroom after hearing the guilty verdict in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 30. On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a Missouri case seeking to delay his September sentencing. Pool File Photo by Steven Hirsch/UPI |
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Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The conservative-leaning Supreme Court has denied an attempt by Missouri's Republican attorney general to further delay the sentencing of former President Donald Trump in his New York election interference and hush money case.
The order declining to hear Missouri's case came down Monday. The justices did not give reason for their decision, though conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have permitted the case to continue but would not have granted other relief Missouri had asked for, the order said.
Trump, the former president and current GOP presidential candidate, was found guilty late May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to a porn star to keep their alleged affair from the voting public ahead of the 2016 election.
He faces up to four years' imprisonment when sentenced Sept. 18, and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had filed a lawsuit against New York early last month to pause the proceedings.
Bailey's long-shot lawsuit accused New York of violating Missourians' First Amendment rights as the criminal case, gag order that was placed on the former president and the forthcoming sentencing "undermined [Trumps'] ability to campaign for president."
"This overt meddling in a presidential election sabotages Missourians' ability to hear from and cast a fully informed vote for president mere months before the election," Bailey's office said in a statement when it announced the court filing.
The court filing states that Missouris' "modest request" was for the gag order placed on Trump and his sentencing to be moved to after the general election in November. Bailey argued doing so would not harm the state of New York while ensuring voters nationwide would be able to hear the GOP presidential candidate.
In response to Missouri, New York Attorney General Letitia James rebutted in a filing that potential harm incurred by Missourians is speculative as the sentence Trump receives may pose no restrictions on his ability to campaign, that New York State is not the proper defendant as Trump was prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney and that Missouri lacks standing.
