New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan granted the parties' requests for time to file legal papers. Merchan said he would rule on those motions on Sept. 6.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday on ideological grounds that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts but can be tried for private conduct.
That decision may or may not have much impact on Trump’s conviction in New York, since the conduct at issue largely involved paying hush money to a porn actress and then repaying Trump’s former lawyer for arranging the payment. But Trump’s legal team could also try to use the new ruling to attack the evidence in the case, since the Supreme Court has ruled that evidence regarding a president’s official acts may not be presented to a jury.
Trump's lawyers asked for a delay on Monday so they could overturn his conviction.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a letter to the court on Tuesday that sentencing should be delayed from July 11 to allow the defense to present its case about how the Supreme Court decision could affect Trump's prosecution in state court.
Trump's conviction for covering up a hush-money payment to a porn actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election was based in part on evidence of meetings and communications that took place while he was president.
In a historic and sweeping ruling Monday, the Supreme Court held that presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts and that evidence cannot be used to prove alleged private criminal activity if that evidence was part of the president's performance of official duties.
Merchan previously ruled that Trump’s conduct in the document-falsification case had nothing to do with his official duties as president, a decision Merchan made when he denied a request from Trump’s lawyers to delay the trial until after the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. The high court’s ruling was sparked by another criminal case, Trump’s federal election interference trial in Washington, D.C. But it could have implications for the former president’s other cases as well.
Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, now have until July 10 to file their written arguments with the judge. Prosecutors must respond two weeks later.
Prosecutors said they did not oppose a delay, but added that the defense's arguments about how the Supreme Court ruling should affect the New York case are “without merit.”
Since the case began, Trump’s lawyers have argued that he should be immune from prosecution because much of the alleged conduct occurred while Trump was in the White House. While the payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels occurred in 2016, weeks before Trump was elected, his repayments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen occurred in 2017.
These fees were incorrectly classified as legal fees and were not disclosed in Trump's campaign spending disclosures.
Jurors in the trial were presented with evidence and heard testimony regarding conduct that occurred while Trump was in office, including incriminating tweets from the account Trump used as president.
Trump's lawyers argued before the trial that some of the evidence the prosecution was going to introduce should have been barred by the immunity doctrine, and Merchan said he would rule on individual immunity claims as they arose during the trial. The defense said in its brief that prosecutors relied heavily on “evidence of official conduct, including witness statements about events in the Oval Office that [the prosecution] described as 'devastating.'
“Below [the Supreme Court ruling]“This evidence from official proceedings should never have been presented to the jury,” Blanche and Bove wrote.
It’s possible that litigation over the application of the Supreme Court’s decision to the Manhattan district attorney’s case could trigger a flood of requests for a stay, since it now comes down to a question of first impression. If Merchan decides to let the conviction stand, Trump’s side would likely immediately file a request for a stay of sentencing with the appeals court.
The complication comes as the 2024 presidential race intensifies after last week's televised debate between Trump and President Biden. Both candidates were seen as having significant flaws, but there was particular focus on Biden because of several times he appeared confused or unable to gather his thoughts.
Trump and his campaign have sought to capitalize on Biden's perceived decline, despite the former president facing four criminal indictments and civil judgments totaling more than $550 million in separate cases alleging crimes including corporate fraud, defamation and sexual assault.
If Trump's conviction survives post-sentence motions, he could face up to four years in prison in the false registration case. Trump is unlikely to face trial on any of the other three criminal counts before the November election. Two of these relate to his alleged interference in the 2020 election and another is linked to the alleged illegal retention of highly sensitive government data after he left office.
In Trump's federal case in Washington involving January 6, 2021, the case being considered by the Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan must wait until early August to begin figuring out how the court's ruling will curb special counsel Jack Smith's case and whether the scope of evidence in that case should be limited.
In that case, Trump is accused of trying to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election.
Trump and his lawyers deny all allegations and stress that he is being attacked for political reasons.
