NY’s highest appeals court refuses to block Trump’s sentencing

New York’s highest court on Thursday refused to block the imposition of the sentence in the trial of Donald Trump over accusations that he paid to silence critics, leaving the country’s Supreme Court as the president-elect’s likely last option to avoid the hearing scheduled for Friday.

A New York Court of Appeals judge issued a brief order refusing to give a hearing to Trump’s legal team.

Trump has asked the Supreme Court to cancel Friday’s hearing. His lawyers appealed to the nation’s highest court on Wednesday after the New York courts refused to postpone the sentencing declaration by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the trial in which Trump was found guilty in May of 34 serious crimes of falsify financial records.

Trump denies any wrongdoing.

In a petition to New York’s high court, Trump’s lawyers asserted that both Merchan and the state’s mid-level appeals court “erred by not stopping the sentence,” arguing that the Constitution requires an automatic pause while they appeal and that the The ruling will affect the Republican’s presidential transition as he prepares to return to the White House on January 20.

Prosecutors countered, pointing out that there is no reason for the high court to take the “extraordinary step” of stopping the case.

“There is a compelling public interest in proceeding to sentencing,” Manhattan prosecutors wrote. “The defendant has not provided any documentary support for his claim that his duties as president-elect prevent him from virtually attending a sentencing that is unlikely to last more than an hour.”

Although Merchan has indicated he will not impose prison time, fines or probation, Trump’s lawyers argued that a felony conviction would still have intolerable side effects, including distracting him as he prepares to take office.

Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, called the case politically motivated and said sentencing now will be a “grave injustice.” Sauer is also Trump’s choice to be attorney general, who represents the government before the Supreme Court.

Trump’s lawyers also argue that the evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution for acts taken as president.

At the very least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals on the immunity issue are resolved.

Judges in New York have determined that Trump’s convictions relate to personal matters rather than the official presidential matters at the heart of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Prosecutors argue that Trump’s arguments are not strong enough to overturn his conviction and his appeal should not chill the case because it involves evidence rather than the central charges.

The emergency motion to the United States Supreme Court was sent to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who hears emergency appeals from New York.

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