Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he departs a campaign event at Central Wisconsin Airport, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Mosinee, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Lawyers for Donald Trump say that the decision by the New York judge overseeing the ex-president’s criminal hush-money case to delay sentencing until after the 2024 election still doesn’t give Trump enough time for his post-trial legal maneuvers to be heard.
In a letter Monday filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys Emil Bove and Todd Blanche provided what they describe as a “supplemental authority letter” relating to Trump’s motion to stay a federal judge’s decision to keep the case in state court — specifically “to inform the Court of two developments on September 6, 2024.”
Those two developments: U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s two-time denial of Trump’s effort to move the case to federal court, and New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s decision to delay sentencing for Trump, who was convicted of 34 business-related crimes in the Empire State, until after the 2024 presidential election.
Merchan also announced that he will issue his ruling on Trump’s motion to set aside the guilty verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s sweeping grant of presidential immunity.
According to Bove and Blanche, the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling granting general immunity to the president means that only federal court provides a path to a “fair and orderly litigation of the Presidential immunity defense.”
“Because of the significance of the Presidential immunity doctrine, the federal government and the public share an interest in that outcome — even if these novel and complex issues are to be addressed after the 2024 Presidential election,” the letter says, offering an example of Merchan moving forward with sentencing and a “judgment of conviction” before the removal appeal is resolved.
In addition, even though Trump’s lawyers had argued that a sentencing delay would mitigate what they say are harms to the case caused by “evidence of local hostilities,” that delay may not actually be enough.
“Furthermore, Justice Merchan’s current schedule does not allow adequate time for interlocutory appellate review of a Presidential immunity ruling he is likely to issue before this appeal is resolved, which contradicts Trump v. United States,” the letter says.
A stay of Hellerstein’s denial of removal, the letter concludes, “is still necessary to preserve the status quo.”
Read the lawyers’ letter here.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
