Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Bid to Halt Sentencing

As the clock was running out on Friday, Donald Trump’s attorneys filed a Hail Mary motion with the Supreme Court to halt the sentencing in the hush money case.  

As we expected, that motion was declined, and the sentencing moved forward.  

Sentencing Motion Denied 

When Judge Merchan first announced that he was indefinitely suspending Donald Trump’s sentencing, most people thought it would be postponed until after his presidency was over.  

Merchan later decided against that and announced that he would be sentencing Trump on January 10, less than two weeks before Trump was set to take office. This led to Trump filing a motion with the Supreme Court to halt the sentencing.  

The court ruled 5-4 against Trump, with conservative Justices Roberts and Barrett siding with the liberals on the bench. The ruling stated, “First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. 

“Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing.” 

Merchan Sentences Trump 

Judge Merchan was clearly conflicted in issuing this verdict, yet he did not want to dismiss the jury decision.  

I believe Merchan, had Trump not won this election, likely would have sentenced Trump to jail for a short period to make a point. I say this because he noted that the leniency in his ruling was solely because Trump was about to take office.  

Judge Merchan stated, “Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. This has been a truly extraordinary case.” 

He later added that the unconditional discharge ruling that he was issuing was the only way to avoid “encroaching on the highest office of the land.” 

Trump Responds 

The ruling means that Trump will not have to serve any punishment at all, but he will have the convicted felon tag hanging over his head.  

Trump will also be able to move forward with his appeals, which he will likely take to the Supreme Court if necessary. To be clear, the entries in this case were wrongly categorized, but the appeal should be about how they were presented rather than presidential immunity or Trump’s innocence. This should have been a misdemeanor and a slap on the wrist, not three dozen felony charges.  

That will not happen, though, and Trump made that quite clear Trump went on a rant against Judge Merchan and the case itself virtually, stating, “This has been a very terrible experience. The fact is, I’m totally innocent.” 

Again, Trump is not innocent, but that was, relatively speaking, a bookkeeping crime. Trump basically tried to write off the hush money payments as a business expense, and he got caught. It is a type of “crime” that happens all the time, be it on purpose or not, and it usually results in a fine, penalty, back taxes, and a slap on the wrist.