The Supreme Court on Monday turned away Missouri’s long-running effort to lift a gag order involving former President Donald Trump. The case of money to keep quiet And his sentencing in New York could be delayed.
Missouri’s attorney general approached the high court with an unusual request to prosecute New York after justices granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution in a separate case filed in Washington.
The order said Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have allowed Republican Andrew Bailey to file the suit, though they would not have approved his effort to immediately lift the gag order and delay the sentencing.
Bailey argued that New York Gag OrderMissouri wanted the sentence to continue until after the election, unfairly limiting what the GOP presidential candidate can say while campaigning across the country, and a final sentence handed down to Trump could impact his ability to travel.
“New York’s actions have caused constitutional harm that threatens to infringe on the rights of Missouri voters and electors,” he wrote.
Bailey called the allegations politically motivated because they presented the issue as a conflict between two states. While the Supreme Court typically hears appeals, it can act as a trial court in state disputes. However, those disputes usually relate to shared borders or rivers that cross state borders.
Meanwhile, New York said the limited gag order allows Trump to speak out on issues important to voters, and a conviction may not affect his movement at all. Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that the appeal is moving through state courts and there is no state-by-state conflict that would allow the Supreme Court to weigh in on this point.
“Permitting Missouri to file this suit seeking such relief against New York would permit an extraordinary and dangerous end to former President Trump’s ongoing state court proceedings,” they wrote.
Trump was placed under a gag order during his trial, with prosecutors raising concerns about Trump’s habit of attacking people involved in his cases. However, this was amended after his conviction to allow him to comment publicly about witnesses and jurors.
They will be barred from revealing the identities or addresses of individual jurors until sentencing, and from commenting about court staff, the prosecution team and their families.
His sentencing has been postponed until at least September.
Trump was convicted in Manhattan of 34 counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors said was an effort to conceal a payment of money just before the 2016 presidential election to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She says she had a sexual relationship with Trump a decade ago, which he denies.
The charge is punishable by up to four years in prison, though it is unclear whether prosecutors will seek a prison sentence. Legal experts have said imprisonment would be a rare punishment for a first-time convict of Trump’s charges. Other possible sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional release, under which Trump would have to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment.
Trump is also seeking to overturn the conviction, citing a Supreme Court ruling in July that granted him broad immunity from prosecution as a former president. That decision virtually eliminated the possibility that he could be tried on election interference charges in Washington before the election.
The high court has dismissed other similar lawsuits in recent years framed as conflicts between states, including over the 2020 election results.
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