US Polls 2024: Supreme Court rejects Missouri's bid to lift Trump's gag order in hush-money case

Court rejects Missouri's gag order (File)

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Missouri's attempt to lift a gag order and delay sentencing in former President Trump's hush-money case in New York.

Missouri's attorney general sought to sue New York after Trump received immunity in a different case in Washington.

Justices Thomas and Alito would have allowed the suit but not the immediate lifting of the gag order or sentencing delay. Bailey claimed the gag order limits Trump's campaign speech and that his sentence could impact his travel.

“The actions by New York have created constitutional harms that threaten to infringe the rights of Missouri's voters and electors,” he wrote.

Bailey railed against the charges as politically motivated as he framed the issue as a conflict between two states. While the Supreme Court typically hears appeals, it can act as a trial court in state conflicts. Those disputes, though, typically deal with shared borders or rivers that cross state lines.

New York, meanwhile, said the limited gag order does allow Trump to talk about the issues important to voters, and the sentence may not affect his movement at all. Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that appeals are moving through state courts and there's no state-on-state conflict that would allow the Supreme Court to weigh in at this point.

“Allowing Missouri to file this suit for such relief against New York would permit an extraordinary and dangerous end-run around former President Trump's ongoing state court proceedings,” she wrote.

Trump is under a gag order imposed at trial after prosecutors raised concerns about Trump's habit of attacking people involved in his cases. It was modified after his conviction, though, to allow him to comment publicly about witnesses and jurors.

He remains barred from disclosing the identities or addresses of individual jurors, and from commenting about court staffers, the prosecution team and their families until he is sentenced.

His sentencing has been delayed until at least September.

Trump was convicted in Manhattan on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She says she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.

The charge is punishable by up to four years behind bars, though it's not clear whether prosecutors will seek prison time. Incarceration would be a rare punishment for a first-time offender convicted of Trump's charges, legal experts have noted. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge requiring Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment.

Trump is also trying to have the conviction overturned, pointing to the July Supreme Court ruling that gave him broad immunity from prosecution as a former president. That finding all but ended the possibility that he could face trial on election interference charges in Washington before the election.

The high court has rejected other similar suits framed as a conflict between states in recent years, including over the 2020 election results.

(Input from agencies)