US President-elect Donald Trump has made a last-minute appeal in the Supreme Court to pause his upcoming sentencing in the hush money case.
According to CNN, an emergency appeal came a day after the New York appeal court rejected Trump’s request to postpone sentencing, which was scheduled to be announced on Friday, January 10, 2025, ten days before his swearing-in ceremony.
In a court filing released on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the upcoming president’s lawyers urged the top court of the country to immediately pause the sentencing and issue a temporary “administrative stay” till he sought clarity on whether presidents are protected from certain lawsuits due to presidential immunity or not.
The 78-year-old’s attorneys told the court, “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg responded, “We will respond in court papers.”
The high court has ordered the prosecutors to respond by 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 9, 2025.
Moreover, a CNN Supreme Court analyst, Steve Vladeck, noted, “Not for the first time, Trump is asking for relief that is just not available to other criminal defendants, asking the Supreme Court to prevent a state sentencing proceeding from even happening.”
“Even if there’s something to his immunity argument, it’s not clear why a sentencing that isn’t going to produce any actual consequences has to be blocked, rather than just reviewed through an ordinary appeal,” he continued.
For the unversed, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records linked to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the hush money criminal case in May 2024.
