Trump asks Supreme Court to block Friday sentencing in New York hush money case

WASHINGTON ? President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday for an emergency order blocking the sentencing, scheduled for Friday, in his New York hush-money criminal case.

On Tuesday, a state judge rejected Trump's request to postpone the sentencing.

The legal battle is playing out as Trump prepares to return to the White House on Jan. 20, and he said the sentencing would interfere with his transition.

Trump wants all proceedings paused while he argues the case should be dismissed because of presidential immunity.

Allowing the conviction to stand, his lawyers told the Supreme Court, would "gravely undermine the American Presidency as we know it."

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said Bragg would respond in a legal filing. The Supreme Court has requested that filing by Thursday morning.

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to hide payments to a porn actress made ahead of the 2016 election.

Associate Judge Ellen Gesmer, a judge in New York state’s appellate division, denied Trump's request for a sentencing delay Tuesday, a day after Judge Juan Merchan rejected the same request. Merchan had previously rejected Trump's request to dismiss the case.

Merchan said the best way to bring finality to the case was to sentence Trump without prison time, a fine or probation while his appeals continued. Merchan wrote that Trump's request for a delay was mostly "a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past."

Trump’s lawyers said Merchan dramatically understated the “burden, disruption, stigma, and distraction” that the case is imposing on Trump’s transition efforts.

“Forcing President Trump to prepare for a criminal sentencing in a felony case while he is preparing to lead the free world as President of the United States in less than two weeks imposes an intolerable, unconstitutional burden on him that undermines these vital national interests,” they wrote.

And the prospect of Trump having to appeal his conviction while in office is “a situation that the doctrine of Presidential immunity squarely rejects,” his lawyers said.

Trump contends the Supreme Court’s July decision shielding former presidents from criminal charges for official acts in office made him immune in the New York case.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump paid his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in turn paid a porn actress, Stormy Daniels, to remain silent before the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter.

Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, had argued that immunity shielding sitting presidents from criminal charges for official acts while in office extends to the transition period between an election and inauguration. But because Trump is the first former president ever charged criminally or convicted, immunity remains largely untested in court.

Merchan ruled that the case dealt with his personal conduct.

Because of the impending sentencing, Trump has simultaneously filed emergency requests with both the Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals, rather than waiting for a lower state appeals court to act.

"The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts," spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump asks Supreme Court to block sentencing in NY hush money case