By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-08 23:36:08 | Updated at 2025-01-09 18:43:35
19 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // President-elect Donald Trump petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to block his sentencing slated for Friday in the controversial Manhattan “hush money” case. Friday is exactly ten days before Trump is set to be sworn into office as the nation’s 47th president.
Last Friday, the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, ordered the sentencing to proceed, denying Trump’s motion to vacate his May 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
A chorus of observers, including many Democrats, have described the New York City case as politically motivated “lawfare.”
The president-elect’s incoming White House Communications Director Steven Cheung noted in a statement that “Trump’s legal team filed an emergency petition … asking the Court to correct the unjust actions by New York courts and stop the unlawful sentencing.”
Cheung referred to the case as a “Witch Hunt” by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Constitution, and established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” the Communications Director-designate wrote, likely referring to the Court’s 6-3 July 2024 ruling.
“The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts,” Cheung emphasized.
STEVEN CHEUNG:
“President Trump’s legal team filed an emergency petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to correct the unjust actions by New York courts and stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt. The Supreme Court’s historic…
Trump’s appeal to the Court states that his legal team “requests an emergency stay to prevent further criminal proceedings in New York state court … against the President-Elect of the United States at the apex of his Presidential transition, and after his electoral win his been certified by a joint session of both houses of Congress.”
Congress unanimously certified Trump’s decisive electoral victory Monday, without objection from a single Democratic lawmaker.
>> LAST WEEK: JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP TO BE SENTENCED 10 DAYS BEFORE INAUGURATION <<
The appeal continues: “On Friday, January 3, 2025, the Supreme Court of New York County wrongly denied President Trump’s pending motion to dismiss the criminal case based on Presidential immunity and, contrary to accepted practice, New York Law, and due process, abruptly set the matter for criminal sentencing less than a week later.”
“President Trump promptly filed an interlocutory appeal and notified the trial court that it is subject to an automatic stay, but the New York courts have erroneously refused to honor that stay,” the appeal indicated. “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.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Supreme Court asked Bragg’s office “to respond by 10 a.m. Thursday.”
“In state court proceedings this week, Manhattan prosecutors argued that a president-elect doesn’t enjoy the same protections as a sitting president and said that Trump’s offenses involved his actions as a private citizen,” the Journal elaborated. “They also said there was an important public interest in wrapping up the case.”
