The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, on Thursday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to halt criminal proceedings in his New York hush money case, allowing the sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday to proceed as planned, NBC News reported.
The brief, unsigned order noted that the issues Trump seeks to raise “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal.” It also emphasized that the burden posed by sentencing is “relatively insubstantial,” as Trump will not face any prison time.
Spokespeople for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday night.
Last week, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s trial, set Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case for Friday but made clear that Trump would not face jail time.
In court filings, Trump’s legal team argued that allowing the sentencing to proceed would cause “grave injustice and harm” to the presidency. They contended that Trump is shielded by presidential immunity, as previously recognized by the Supreme Court in a ruling related to his prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
That ruling established that while a president’s personal actions are not immune from prosecution, official acts taken during their presidency are off-limits for criminal charges.
Earlier this week, a New York appeals court judge declined to block Trump’s sentencing. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had urged the court to stay out of the matter, arguing that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over Trump’s claims while the case remains active in lower courts.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to an alleged scheme to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of his 2016 campaign.
This case is the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial.
Special counsel Jack Smith has since dismissed two federal cases against Trump: one concerning his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another alleging he mishandled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.