Sentencing in former President Donald Trump’s New York City criminal case, amid which a jury recently found him guilty on all counts following allegations of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 election, was originally scheduled for this month but is now happening in September.
The update came after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling providing presidents with a layer of legal immunity — meaning protection from prosecution — for certain actions in office. Writing on social media, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who is now a prominent voice in mainstream media legal analysis, argued that the update would make it “VERY hard” for Trump to potentially appeal his sentencing (assuming it eventually moves forward) all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before the presidential election this year.
“Judge Merchan moving the sentencing to mid September is smart,” Weissmann posted. “It gives Trump and DA and the court time to brief the issues, but Merchan will ultimately reject the weak Trump claims, and importantly the new mid-September sentencing date will make it VERY hard for Trump to then be able to appeal to SCOTUS before the election as he will have to appeal within NY state courts first.”
Trump’s team is trying to use the Supreme Court’s ruling, which was issued amid a different case accusing the ex-president of conspiring against the 2020 presidential election outcome, to undercut the conviction in New York City.
Meanwhile, the case directly behind the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling is also further delayed, with proceedings now teed up at a lower level dealing with whether certain actions alleged of Trump fall within the protections. The immunity given by the conservative Supreme Court majority was relatively sweeping, including “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” as they wrote. (“His” refers to any president.)
