The Supreme Court on Monday declined a long-shot push from Missouri to remove a gag order in former President Donald Trump’s hush-money case and halt his sentencing in New York till presidential election.
The Missouri lawyer general went to the high court with the unusual request to sue New York after the justices granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution in a separate case filed in Washington.
The Supreme Court's decision came in response to Missouri's lawsuit alleging that the case against Trump violated voters' right under the US Constitution to hear from the Republican presidential candidate as he vies for the White House again.
The Court’s order was unsigned. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who lean conservative, expressed interest in hearing Missouri's case but clarified they "would not grant other relief."
Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 U.S. election about a sexual encounter she has said she had with Trump years earlier. Prosecutors have said the payment was designed help Trump's chances in the 2016 election, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Bailey contended that the criminal case against Trump infringed upon the rights of Missouri residents under the Constitution's First Amendment, which guarantees the right to hear from and vote for their preferred presidential candidate.
"Instead of letting presidential candidates campaign on their own merits, radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process," Bailey said in bringing the case.
Republican attorneys general from Florida, Iowa, Montana, and Alaska supported Missouri's lawsuit by filing a brief with the Supreme Court.
In addition to his current legal challenges, Trump is also facing federal and state criminal charges related to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.
(Inputs from Reuters)
