Current:Home > MySupreme Court shuts down Missouri’s long shot push to lift Trump’s gag order in hush-money case-InfoLens
Supreme Court shuts down Missouri’s long shot push to lift Trump’s gag order in hush-money case
View Date:2024-12-23 15:29:28
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday shut down a long-shot push from Missouri to remove a gag order in former President Donald Trump’s hush-money case and delay his sentencing in New York.
The Missouri attorney general went to the high court with the unusual request to sue New York after the justices granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution in a separate case filed in Washington.
The order states that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have allowed Republican Andrew Bailey to file the suit, though not grant his push to quickly lift the gag order and delay sentencing.
Bailey argued the New York gag order, which Missouri wanted stayed until after the election, wrongly limits what the GOP presidential nominee can say on the campaign trail around the country, and Trump’s eventual sentence could affect his ability to travel.
“The actions by New York have created constitutional harms that threaten to infringe the rights of Missouri’s voters and electors,” he wrote.
Bailey railed against the charges as politically motivated as he framed the issue as a conflict between two states. While the Supreme Court typically hears appeals, it can act as a trial court in state conflicts. Those disputes, though, typically deal with shared borders or rivers that cross state lines.
New York, meanwhile, said the limited gag order does allow Trump to talk about the issues important to voters, and the sentence may not affect his movement at all. Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that appeals are moving through state courts and there’s no state-on-state conflict that would allow the Supreme Court to weigh in at this point.
“Allowing Missouri to file this suit for such relief against New York would permit an extraordinary and dangerous end-run around former President Trump’s ongoing state court proceedings,” she wrote.
Trump is under a gag order imposed at trial after prosecutors raised concerns about Trump’s habit of attacking people involved in his cases. It was modified after his conviction, though, to allow him to comment publicly about witnesses and jurors.
He remains barred from disclosing the identities or addresses of individual jurors, and from commenting about court staffers, the prosecution team and their families until he is sentenced.
His sentencing has been delayed until at least September.
Trump was convicted in Manhattan on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She says she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.
The charge is punishable by up to four years behind bars, though it’s not clear whether prosecutors will seek prison time. Incarceration would be a rare punishment for a first-time offender convicted of Trump’s charges, legal experts have noted. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge requiring Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment.
Trump is also trying to have the conviction overturned, pointing to the July Supreme Court ruling that gave him broad immunity from prosecution as a former president. That finding all but ended the possibility that he could face trial on election interference charges in Washington before the election.
The high court has rejected other similar suits framed as a conflict between states in recent years, including over the 2020 election results.
veryGood! (22943)
Related
- Dallas Long, who won 2 Olympic medals while dominating the shot put in the 1960s, has died at 84
- NFL Star Josh Allen Reacts to Being Photographed Making Out With Hailee Steinfeld
- SUV crash kills a man and his grandson while they work in yard in Maine
- Stop What You’re Doing: It’s the Last Weekend to Shop These Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Deals
- Groups seek a new hearing on a Mississippi mail-in ballot lawsuit
- Oregon crabbers and environmentalists are at odds as a commission votes on rules to protect whales
- Judge rejects attempt to temporarily block Connecticut’s landmark gun law passed after Sandy Hook
- Albuquerque teens accused of using drug deal to rob and kill woman
- The 15 quickest pickup trucks MotorTrend has ever tested
- No AP Psychology credit for Florida students after clash over teaching about gender
Ranking
- Sports are a must-have for many girls who grow up to be leaders
- Deadly blast destroys New Jersey home: 2 dead, 2 missing and 2 juveniles hospitalized
- What jobs are most exposed to AI? Pew research reveals tasks more likely to be replaced.
- Lawyer for ex-NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik says special counsel may not have reviewed records before indicting Trump
- Oprah Winfrey Addresses Claim She Was Paid $1 Million by Kamala Harris' Campaign
- Ciara Teams up With Gap and LoveShackFancy on a Limited-Edition Collection for Every Generation
- After federal judge says Black man looks like a criminal to me, appeals court tosses man's conviction
- Idaho stabbing suspect says he was out driving alone the night of students' killings
Recommendation
-
Karol G addresses backlash to '+57' lyric: 'I still have a lot to learn'
-
Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger reveals alibi claim in new court filing
-
Major cases await as liberals exert control of Wisconsin Supreme Court
-
Why are actors on strike still shooting movies? Here's how SAG-AFTRA waivers work
-
Black, red or dead: How Omaha became a hub for black squirrel scholarship
-
Taylor Swift's Longtime Truck Driver Reacts to Life-Changing $100,000 Bonuses
-
The case for a soft landing in the economy just got another boost
-
Jonathan Majors' assault and harassment trial delayed shortly after he arrives in court