The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Missouri’s attempt to delay Donald Trump’s upcoming sentencing for his conviction in New York on felony charges related to hush money paid to a porn star on Monday. The court also maintained a related gag order until after the November 5 presidential election. Missouri had filed a lawsuit claiming that the case against Trump infringed on the rights of voters under the U.S. Constitution to hear from the Republican presidential nominee as he campaigns to regain the White House.
The Supreme Court’s order was unsigned, though conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito expressed that they would have taken up Missouri’s case but added that they “would not grant other relief.”
Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The payment was made in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump prior to the 2016 U.S. election. Prosecutors argued that the payment was intended to boost Trump’s chances in the election, where he ultimately defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump denies the affair and has vowed to appeal his conviction following his sentencing, scheduled for September.
Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit against New York state on July 3, asking the Supreme Court to pause Trump’s impending sentencing and the gag order imposed by New York state judge Juan Merchan. Legal disputes between states are filed directly to the Supreme Court. Bailey contended that the criminal case against Trump violated the First Amendment rights of Missouri residents to “hear from and vote for their preferred presidential candidate.”
“Instead of letting presidential candidates campaign on their own merits, radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process,” Bailey said in bringing the case. Republican attorneys general from Florida, Iowa, Montana, and Alaska supported Missouri’s lawsuit in a brief filed with the Supreme Court.
Trump is also facing federal and state criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. In a July 1 ruling, the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, granted Trump substantial criminal immunity for actions taken while in office, effectively ensuring he would not face trial in the federal election subversion case before the election. Trump’s lawyers subsequently invoked this immunity ruling to try to overturn the hush money verdict, arguing that prosecutors improperly relied on social media posts made by Trump in 2018 when he was president, which they claimed were official communications.
Judge Merchan stated that he would rule on Trump’s arguments by September 6. If he upholds the conviction, he plans to sentence Trump on September 18. Additionally, a New York state appeals court recently rejected Trump’s challenge to his gag order, meaning Trump cannot publicly comment on individual prosecutors and others involved in the case until his sentencing. Trump has consistently claimed that all the criminal cases against him are politically motivated.
