Trump’s sentence in the hush money case will not be stopped by the US Supreme Court

A gag order pertaining to Donald Trump’s conviction in New York on felony charges regarding hush money payments to a porn star was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, rejecting the state of Missouri’s attempt to postpone the impending sentence. The order is in effect until after the presidential election on November 5.

The court’ ruling followed a lawsuit filed by Missouri, which contended that the Trump case violated voters’ constitutional right to hear from the Republican nominee for president in the event that he decides to run again for the presidency.

The order from the Supreme Court was not signed. While indicating that they would have considered Missouri’s case, conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito also stated that they “would not grant other relief.”

In May, Trump was convicted of fabricating financial documents to conceal a $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in return for her quiet on an alleged sexual encounter with the billionaire real estate magnate years before to the 2016 U.S. election. The payment, according to the prosecution, was intended to boost Trump’s prospects of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

The Republican nominee for this year’s election, Trump, has pledged to fight his conviction following his September sentencing. He denies ever having sex with Daniels.

In a case against New York state filed on July 3, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri requested that the Supreme Court postpone Trump’s scheduled sentence as well as the gag order imposed on him by New York state judge Juan Merchan.

State-to-state legal issues are brought before the Supreme Court directly.
The criminal prosecution against Trump, according to Bailey, violates Missourians’ First Amendment ability 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 stated when he brought the lawsuit.

A brief was submitted with the Supreme Court by Republican attorneys general from Florida, Iowa, Montana, and Alaska endorsing Missouri’s challenge.

Trump is also charged with federal and state crimes in connection with his attempts to reverse his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

In a decision on July 1, the Supreme Court, supported by its 6-3 conservative majority, gave President Trump broad criminal protection for acts performed while in office. It almost guaranteed that before the election, Trump would not go on trial in the federal case pertaining to election subversion.

The immunity order was quickly cited by Trump’s attorneys in an attempt to overturn the hush money verdict. They said that incompetent prosecutors relied on Trump’s 2018 social media posts that met the requirements for official communications while he was president.

By September 6, the case’s judge promised to make a decision about Trump’s claims. On September 18, Merchan stated he would sentence Trump if he upheld the conviction.

Trump’s appeal against his gag order was denied last week by a state appeals court in New York. Trump, who has claimed that all of the criminal cases against him are politically motivated, will not be able to publicly discuss specific prosecutors or other parties involved in the case until he is sentenced, according to the Manhattan Appellate Division’s ruling.