New York Judge Juan Merchan issued late last week new restrictions on future motions from either side — with a focus on Trump — in one of the former president’s criminal cases.
The case involves allegations of the falsification of business records related to hush money from before the 2016 election and is scheduled for trial later this month, but Trump filed a sudden request to put things on hold as the U.S. Supreme Court considers his claims of presidential immunity, spurring this judge’s move.
Presidential immunity refers to the argument from Trump that he holds wide-ranging legal protections by mere virtue of once serving as president that supposedly should stop criminal proceedings that he is facing. He raised the argument now before the nation’s highest court in a different criminal case involving allegations of attempted election interference after the 2020 presidential race. Trump is claiming that his actions in that period were simply part of his presidential responsibilities — and that more broadly, he should be held to have absolute or nearly absolute immunity from even the possibility of criminal consequences for actions undertaken as part of that role.
Merchan demanded that potentially future motions in the case be preceded by a request to the judge for permission to make the filing at all. “Effective immediately, the parties are hereby directed to obtain leave of the Court before filing any additional motions prior to March 25, 2024,” the judge said in a Friday order, outlining limits on potential impediments to the swift resolution of the case. In the request already filed by Trump for putting things on hold, Merchan gave prosecutors until Wednesday for their response.
Trump, meanwhile, continues basing much of his ongoing campaign for president on grievances drawn from his wide-ranging criminal proceedings, in which he alleges — without evidence — involvement by the current president, his expected challenger in the presidential election later this year.
