A New York State appeals-court judge has rejected former president Donald Trump’s effort to postpone the criminal trial scheduled to begin on Monday and lift the gag order imposed in that case.

I explained in a post last night why Trump’s application was certain to fail. It is not that the issues he raises are frivolous; it’s that they can be addressed on appeal if the former president is convicted in the case, in which he is charged with 34 counts of business-records falsification arising out of a hush-money arrangement with porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges that she had a tryst with Trump in 2006 (an allegation he denies). An Article 78 proceeding — the legal vehicle by which Trump sought to challenge the rulings of the Manhattan trial judge, Juan Merchan — is unavailing for a litigant in a criminal case who has other ways (such as appeal) to challenge allegedly erroneous rulings.

Trump’s application was denied by Judge Cynthia Kern of the Appellate Division, First Department — the intermediate appeals court for cases arising out of lower state courts in Manhattan.

With the trial set to begin on Monday, Judge Kern heard the application on an emergency basis and denied it today. As the New York Times reports, the application can now be referred to a full five-judge panel of the Appellate Division, but such a panel certainly would not hear the case prior to the commencement of the trial. (Even if Trump pursues this matter with the full panel, he will lose.)

Yesterday, the same appellate court rejected a separate Trump effort to get the case moved out of Manhattan.

It is estimated that the trial, scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday, will take four to six weeks.