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By: Hellen Zaboulani
On Monday, a Manhattan judge denied President-elect Donald J. Trump’s latest attempt to push off his criminal sentencing in New York for after the inauguration.
As reported by the NY Times, the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, scheduled the sentencing for Friday, 10 days before Mr. Trump is scheduled to be sworn in for his second term as president of the United States. Though the Manhattan judge has already indicated that he will spare Trump of any jail time, the president-elect and his lawyers have been imploring the judge to avoid the symbolic blow of a criminal proceeding before he is sworn in. Justice Merchan denied the request on Monday, saying the claims were “a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past.”
Trump is not ready to give up on this, however. In fact, he has escalated his efforts. His lawyers filed a civil proceeding against Justice Merchan in New York appeals court on Monday late afternoon, per court records. The challenges were filed as a so-called Article 78 petition, a special proceeding used to fight decisions made by New York State agencies and judges. The lawyers hope that the appeals court can intervene to challenge two of the judge’s recent decisions to uphold Mr. Trump’s conviction. Mr. Trump’s lawyers will argue that Mr. Trump is immune from criminal prosecution since he is now the president-elect.
Justice Merchan’s first significant ruling against Trump came last month, when he rejected Mr. Trump’s argument that a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity had nullified his conviction for falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal, the Times reported. The second, perhaps worst ruling was last week, when Justice Merchan denied Trump’s request to overturn the case due to his election win. She instead ordered him to appear for sentencing, and has since refused to delay the sentencing.
Mr. Trump may also request that the appeals court freeze the sentencing. That emergency request would be in the hands of a single appellate judge who could decide as early as Tuesday to either grant or deny an interim stay. Though this ruling would be temporary, in Trump’s case, a full panel of appellate judges are poised to evaluate Mr. Trump’s claims in the upcoming weeks. Mr. Trump’s arguments have included that defending himself in criminal court would distract him from his presidential duties.
Per the NY Times, the speedy flurry of legal filings show how desperate Mr. Trump is to avoid the sentencing. This is even though he will be spared prison time, and any other substantive sentencing. The reason for his urgency is that if he is sentenced for the 34-count conviction, he will technically become a felon, though he will then not be liable for punishment.
When Mr. Trump is sworn in as the 47th president on Jan. 20, the criminal proceedings would likely come to a halt. The Justice Department has a longstanding policy that sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution. This is not a federal case, but rather a New York case, brought in state court, but it will likely follow that policy.
A spokesman for Mr. Trump said that his legal team was moving “to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s witch hunt.” Spokesman, Steven Cheung, added in the statement that “the Supreme Court’s historic decision on immunity, the state Constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”
