Instead, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump can be sentenced for the 34 felonies that he committed in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The judge has already basically promised that there will be no jail time, so figure a few thousand bucks and a slap on the wrist.
It does mean though, that he cannot vote in his new home state of Florida:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied President-elect Donald J. Trump’s emergency bid to halt his criminal sentencing in New York, all but ensuring it would proceed as planned on Friday.
In a brief unsigned order, a five-justice majority noted that Mr. Trump was not facing jail time and that he could still challenge his conviction “in the ordinary course on appeal.”
Although Mr. Trump had argued that being sentenced 10 days before his inauguration would distract from the presidential transition, the majority held, “The burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial.”
The majority included Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor; Amy Coney Barrett; Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Four of the court’s conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh — noted dissents without providing reasons.
The sentencing is now free to move forward on Friday morning in the same Lower Manhattan courtroom where Mr. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that had endangered his 2016 presidential campaign. The president-elect has indicated he plans to appear virtually.
The fact that 4 of the justices voted in favor preventing the sentencing, something that as near as I can tell has absolutely no basis in law, is profoundly troubling.
Nothing to see here, move along. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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