NEW YORK: US President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to block his sentencing this week for covering up hush money payments to an adult film star while he appeals his conviction.

Trump made the eleventh-hour plea for a suspension of the criminal proceedings to the nation’s highest court after a New York State appeals court dismissed his effort to have the hearing delayed.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Trump is frantically seeking to avoid facing punishment before he is sworn in on Jan 20 for a second term as president. His lawyers have brought several legal maneuvers in an effort to fend off the sentencing, which the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, has already indicated in a filing will not result in jail time.

“This Court should enter an immediate stay of further proceedings in the New York trial court to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their application to the Supreme Court.

“The commencement of President Trump’s interlocutory appeal raising claims of Presidential immunity causes an automatic stay of proceedings in the trial court.” In their previous filing to the New York court, Trump’s counsel had argued that sentencing should be postponed while the Republican appeals his conviction, but associate justice Ellen Gesmer rejected that on Tuesday.

Trump’s lawyers also claimed that the immunity from prosecution granted to a president should be extended to a president-elect, but Gesmer also brushed those arguments aside.

Immunity appeal

His attorneys had further sought to have the case dismissed based on the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year that former US presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for a range of official acts committed while in office.

Merchan said in a filing last week he was leaning towards giving Trump an unconditional discharge. That would mean the New York real estate tycoon would not only avoid the threat of jail, but would escape conditions of any kind. The 78-year-old Trump had potentially faced up to four years in prison. Trump was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election on Monday, four years after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol as he sought to overturn his 2020 defeat.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025