<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A sharply divided Supreme Court rejected President-elect </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span>'s final bid to put his New York hush-money case on hold, clearing the way for him to be sentenced for felony crimes days before he returns to the presidency.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The court's 5-4 order allows Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence on Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a US$130,000 (A$209,000) hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump has denied any liaison with Daniels or any wrongdoing.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court's three liberals in rejecting his emergency motion.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/joe-biden-claims-he-could-have-beaten-donald-trump-in-new-interview/177e8bac-aa32-4f9f-8944-31a7d1bc08cd" target="" title="Joe Biden says he could have beaten Donald Trump"><strong><span>Joe Biden says he could have beaten Donald Trump</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The majority found his sentencing wouldn't be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since Merchan has indicated he won't give Trump jail time, fines or probation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's attorneys had asked the sentencing be delayed as he appeals the verdict, but the majority of justices found his arguments can be handled as part of the regular appeals process.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/supreme-court-rejects-trumps-bid-to-delay-sentencing-in-his-new-york-hush-money-case/e550a9dd-7ab4-439a-8c37-e60b6a0d946c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have delayed the sentencing, the order states.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump said he respects the high court's order, and will pursue an appeal that could end up before the high court again. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I respect the court's opinion — I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we'll see how it works out," he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The defeat comes after the conservative-majority court has handed Trump major victories over the past year, ensuring that states could not kick him off the ballot because of the 2021 attack on the Capitol and giving him immunity from prosecution over some acts he took as president in a ruling that delayed an election-interference case against him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/greenland-donald-trump-threats-european-leaders-respond-olaf-scholz-mexico-president/b25fd1e4-a201-4c9e-9aae-7d679f3dd651" rel="" target="" title="Trump upset a lot of leaders. Now they have hit back"><strong><span>Trump upset a lot of leaders. Now they have hit back</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The justices could also be faced with weighing other parts of the sweeping conservative changes he's promised after he takes office.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the push to delay the New York sentencing, Trump's attorneys argued he is immune from criminal proceedings as president-elect and said some evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer's immunity decision.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At the least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Trump during the White House transition.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutors pushed back, saying there's no reason for the court to take the "extraordinary step" of intervening in a state case now. Trump's attorneys didn't show that an hourlong virtual hearing would be a serious disruption, and a pause would likely mean pushing the case past the January 20 inauguration, creating a delay that could last at least through his presidency.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We brought a case. A jury of ordinary New Yorkers returned 34 guilty verdicts," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at an unrelated news conference Thursday afternoon. "Our function right now primarily is to continue to give voice to that verdict and respect, as a principle - bedrock principle of the administration of justice - that the jury's voice must not be rubbed out."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing, including the state's highest court on Thursday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judges in New York have found that the convictions on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to personal matters rather than Trump's official acts as president. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/as-wildfires-rage-in-los-angeles-trump-doesnt-offer-much-sympathy-hes-casting-blame/42845f95-edf0-4c9a-9a26-e0ac9b63918a" rel="" target="" title="Trump casts blame as bushfires rage"><strong><span>Trump casts blame as bushfires rage</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a "grave injustice" that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump is represented by D. John Sauer, his pick to be the solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sauer also argued for Trump in the separate criminal case charging him with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which resulted in the Supreme Court's immunity opinion.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Defense attorneys cited that opinion in arguing some of the evidence used against him in the hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The decision comes a day after Justice Alito confirmed that he took a phone call from Trump the day before the president-elect's lawyers filed their emergency motion before the high court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The justice said the call was about a clerk, not any upcoming or current cases, but the unusual communication prompted calls for Alito to recuse himself, including from the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Justices make their own decisions about whether to recuse and Alito still weighed in on the case.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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