U.S President-elect Donald Trump suffered another legal setback on Thursday when the Supreme Court denied his request to halt his hush money conviction, with two conservative judges voting against him.
The U.S Supreme Court dismissed Donald Trump’s last-minute request to delay his hush money case sentencing.
By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court, which includes three Justices chosen by Trump, rejected his emergency motion to stay Friday’s sentencing.
The court, in a brief unsigned order, said the “burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” and noted that Trump will be allowed to attend virtually.
The court also noted that Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush money case, has already said he plans to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which does not carry any jail time, fine or probation.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in Manhattan at 9:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Friday, after a New York jury convicted him in May on 34 charges of falsifying business documents to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump, 78, will be inaugurated on January 20 as the first past president to be convicted of a felony and the first convicted felon to serve in the White House.
In a post on Truth Social following the Supreme Court decision, Trump thanked the court for “trying to remedy the great injustice done to me” and lashed out at Merchan, calling him a “highly political and corrupt judge.”
Trump filed an emergency application with the nine-member Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to block his sentencing.
Four conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — were in favor of granting Trump’s request.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, also conservatives, joined the court’s three liberal justices in rejecting the president-elect’s effort.
Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were appointed by Trump.
Trump’s attorneys also claimed that the immunity from prosecution granted to a sitting president should be extended to a president-elect.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg rejected their arguments in his response on Thursday, saying Trump was a private citizen when he was “charged, tried, and convicted.”
Bragg also said the Supreme Court “lacks jurisdiction over a state court’s management of an ongoing criminal trial” and preventing sentencing would be an “extraordinary step” by the top court.
In the order allowing sentencing to go ahead, the Supreme Court said Trump can still appeal his conviction through the New York state courts.
Last week, Merchan stated that he was considering handing Trump an unconditional discharge with no jail time. He also agreed to let the president-elect attend Friday’s sentencing remotely rather than in person.
Trump may face up to four years in prison, but legal experts predicted that Merchan would not imprison him even before he won the presidential election in November.
