Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

U.S. Supreme Court rejects lawsuit to block Trump's sentencing in New York hush money case

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Share

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort by Missouri's Republican attorney general to lift a gag order and delay the sentencing of former President Donald Trump following his conviction in the New York hush money case.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey attempted to file the longshot suit against New York in early July, claiming in part that the gag order violated the First Amendment rights of voters in his state to hear Trump speak.

But the case was widely viewed as unlikely to gain traction at the Supreme Court in part because of the sweeping implications of allowing a state to intervene in a pending criminal case unfolding in a different state.

"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," New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, argued in written briefs.

The Supreme Court rejected the suit without comment.

But conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who have previously suggested that the court is required to take such original jurisdiction cases, said they would have allowed the lawsuit itself to continue.

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. A limited gag order bars Trump from speaking publicly about prosecutors, court staff and their families at least until Trump is sentenced.

The Supreme Court has what's known as "original jurisdiction" in cases involving one state suing another, which means the high court is the first to review the suit. Such cases are relatively rare and usually involve technical issues. In the latest original jurisdiction case resolved by the court, the justices rejected a deal last month that had been struck between three states dealing with how water is distributed from the Rio Grande.

Bailey told the Supreme Court that the gag order and looming sentencing would "unlawfully impede" the ability of the state's electors to fulfill their role and that the court orders in New York violated the First Amendment rights of state voters to "listen to the campaign speech of a specific individual on specific topics."

"Trump is still under a gag order, he will be under that order for at least the next two months, and New York imminently threatens to impose a sentence hindering or destroying Trump's ability to campaign between now and November," Missouri told the court.

The prosecution in New York, Bailey argued, was "only the latest example in an eight-year pattern of lawfare brought against Trump."

Trump's lawyers have already asked Judge Juan Merchan to set aside the conviction in the wake of last month's Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity. The former president is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

CNN's Lauren del Valle contributed to this report.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A Manitoba man convicted of murder 50 years ago has been acquitted. Clarence Woodhouse was found guilty in 1974 of fatally beating and stabbing a restaurant worker in downtown Winnipeg.

An Ontario child has died after coming in contact with a rabid bat, a health official confirmed on Wednesday.

Local Spotlight

The grave of a previously unknown Canadian soldier has been identified as a man from Hayfield, Man. who fought in the First World War.

Moving into the second week of October, the eastern half of Canada can expect some brisker fall air to break down from the north

What does New Westminster's təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre have in common with a historic 68,000-seat stadium in Beijing, an NFL stadium and the aquatics venue for the Paris Olympics? They've all been named among the world's most beautiful sports venues for 2024.

The last living member of the legendary Vancouver Asahi baseball team, Kaye Kaminishi, died on Saturday, Sept. 28, surrounded by family. He was 102 years old.

New data from Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley shows a surge in supply and drop in demand in the region's historically hot real estate market.

On Saturday night at her parents’ home in Delaware, Ont. the Olympic bronze medallist in pole vault welcomed everyone who played a role in getting her to the podium in Paris.

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.