The Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a longshot attempt by the state of Missouri to halt former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in New York for falsifying business records, allowing the first-ever criminal sentencing of a former president to move forward next month—for now.
Missouri’s attorney general Andrew Bailey argued in June the Supreme Court should block the gag ... [+]
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, argued the Supreme Court should halt the gag order put on Trump in relation to his hush money trial and delay his sentencing so “Missourians can participate in the election free from New York’s exercise of coercive power limiting the ability of Trump to campaign.”
Bailey argued in the request to file the complaint—which was largely seen as likely to fail—that New York’s actions “created constitutional harms” and threatened to infringe upon voters’ rights, at least in part by not allowing electors to “hear Trump’s campaigning free from any gag order or other interference.”
In a brief ruling Monday, the Supreme Court denied Missouri’s request to file the complaint and dismissed the request for a stay, though Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would allow Missouri to file the complaint, but “would not grant other relief.”
Forbes has reached out to the Missouri attorney general’s office for comment on the decision.
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Trump’s sentencing is scheduled to take place Sept. 18, after a July date was delayed.
Trump was convicted of all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in his hush money trial in May, making him the first former or sitting president to ever be convicted on criminal charges. In the trial, Trump was placed under a gag order by Judge Juan Merchan that prohibited him from speaking out against jurors, witnesses and others in the case. After Trump’s guilty verdict was returned, Merchan kept the order in place. On June 25—just before the debate between Trump and Biden—Merchan partially lifted the gag order, allowing Trump to make public statements about the case’s witnesses and jurors, but he was still barred from making comments about staff of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and lawyers involved in the case.