A divided United States Supreme Court rejected on Thursday President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to delay his sentence in the case of hush money payment to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. The court’s order paves the way for Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence this Friday.
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Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels, has denied any connection to Daniels or any wrongdoing.
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What does Donald Trump risk with this sentence?
Merchan has said that he will not give Trump time in prison, fines, or probation.
But Trump's lawyers have argued that the evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated the Supreme Court's ruling last summer that granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution for acts he carried out as president. At the very least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals are resolved to avoid distracting Trump during the presidential transition.
The prosecutors responded by saying that there is no reason for the court to take the "extraordinary measure" of intervening in a state case now.
Trump's lawyers turned to the judges after the New York courts refused to postpone the sentencing, including the state's highest court.
The judges in New York have determined that the convictions for 34 serious crimes of falsifying commercial records were related to personal matters rather than Trump's official acts as president. Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it.
Trump's lawyers said that the case had political motivations and stated that sentencing him now would be a "serious injustice" that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.
How did the judges of the Supreme Court vote?
The decision comes one day after Judge Samuel Alito confirmed that he received a phone call from Trump the day before the incoming president's lawyers filed their emergency motion before the Supreme Court. The judge stated that the call was about an employee, not about any pending or current case.
Alito was one of the four conservative minority judges who voted in favor of Trump. The others are Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Brett M. Kavanaugh. They did not justify their dissent.
The majority vote consisted of the three liberal justices of the Supreme Court, plus the conservatives John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by Trump.
The trial against Trump will begin this Friday at 9:30 a.m. (EST) in the same courtroom where the trial took place. The president-elect has indicated that he plans to appear virtually.