President-elect Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his Jan. 10 sentencing in the New York hush-money case.
The move comes after a New York appeals court rejected a similar appeal Tuesday.
Following last summer’s Supreme Court ruling that president enjoy broad immunity from prosecution, Trump has argued that as president-elect he is immune from all prosecution and sentencing.
“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 argued in their application to the Supreme Court. The court ordered prosecutors to respond by Thursday morning. Trump’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday, just 10 days before his inauguration.
The hush-money case is the only one of Trump’s multiple criminal cases to go to trial.
A state jury convicted Trump for 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s legal team had sought to delay or scrap the entire case, arguing the president-elect was immune from prosecution.
New York Judge Juan Merchan had previously delayed the sentencing multiple times but recently said Trump’s lawyers failed to prove the president-elect was immune from the charges.
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