Trump Fails to Stop Sentencing Hearing

Donald Trump has fought the sentencing hearing in the hush money case from the outset, but the clock finally ran out 

On Thursday, a New York Appeals Court denied the motion by Trump to block the sentencing hearing.  

Trump’s emergency motion with the Supreme Court was also declined, just as I had predicted.  

Denied 

We figured the appeal in New York would get shot down.  

I had also stated that with Justice Sotomayor overseeing New York, the Supreme Court would likely reject the motion as well.  

Sotomayor actually took the motion to the full bench, with it being denied in a 5-4 ruling, mostly because of the plan by Merchan to use an “unconditional discharge” in his sentencing.  

Merchan made it clear that while he did not want to send Trump to prison, he did not want to override the jury verdict either. 

The unconditional discharge will keep Trump as a convicted felon, while not actually administering any punishment.  

The good news for Trump is that the Supreme Court does seem receptive to hearing the appeal, although I doubt it will be successful.  

The one string Trump can pull on here is the procedures by the prosecutors, as this case clearly walked a fine line in how they aggressively went after Trump with three dozen felony counts for something that is generally treated as a misdemeanor.  

If they take that approach rather than continuing to claim presidential immunity, I think Trump might beat the case.  

I can tell you flat out right now that there is just no way Justice Roberts would ever agree to presidential immunity in this case.

As I have stated many times, if Roberts crosses the aisle, at least one Trump-appointed justice follows, just as happened in this appeal with Justice Amy Comey Barret siding with Roberts and the liberal justices.