Donald Trump can be sentenced Friday in hush money case, Supreme Court says in 5-4 ruling

The high court on Thursday rejected Trump’s emergency request to delay the proceeding, setting the stage for him to be sentenced just days before he is inaugurated on January 20 for a second term.

Four conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh – said they would have granted Trump’s request

Judge Juan Merchan, the New York judge who oversaw Trump’s trial, had ordered sentencing in the case for Friday morning but has signaled that Trump will face neither penalties nor prison time.

In a brief, one-paragraph statement, the court said that some of Trump’s concerns could be handled “in the ordinary course on appeal.” The court also reasoned that the burden sentencing would impose on Trump’s responsibilities is “relatively insubstantial” in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose no penalty.

The president-elect’s request at the US Supreme Court was an extraordinary appeal because the justices rarely dip into a state criminal case before all appeals in state courts are fully exhausted. Trump’s underlying challenge to his conviction is still pending and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued the Supreme Court didn’t have jurisdiction to even consider the emergency request to delay the sentencing.

This story is breaking and will be updated.