Supreme Court rejects notable effort by MIssouri to stay Donald Trump’s gag order and sentencing in New York

As reported in this CBS News piece, the “Supreme Court on Monday rejected a longshot bid by the state of Missouri to halt former President Donald Trump’s impending sentence and lift the gag order imposed in the New York ‘hush money’ case until after the November presidential election.” Here is more:

The high court denied Missouri’s request to bring its case against New York, and dismissed a separate motion to pause Trump’s sentencing in an unsigned order. There were no noted dissents. Justices Clarence and Samuel Alito said they would have granted the state’s request to file a bill of complaint, but would not have granted the other relief Missouri sought….

In the request to halt Trump’s sentence and temporarily lift the gag order, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, claimed that New York prosecutors are attempting to interfere with Trump’s campaign by using their “coercive power” in the form of the gag order and forthcoming sentence.

“Allowing New York’s actions to stand during this election season undermines the rights of voters and electors and serves as a dangerous precedent that any one of thousands of elected prosecutors in other states may follow in the future,” he wrote. “The public interest stands firmly with Missouri and the protection of the electoral process from this type of partisan meddling.”

Bailey told the court that New York has interfered with Missouri’s election process by impairing presidential electors’ and voters’ ability to see Trump on the campaign trail and hear him speak.  Even if Trump could schedule events in September and October, after his scheduled sentencing, the gag order would restrict what he could say at those rallies, Bailey claimed….

New York officials urged the Supreme Court to deny Missouri’s attempt to halt Trump’s sentence, arguing that the state is attempting to further Trump’s individual interests, and that there is no role for the nation’s highest court to play.  “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 and the statutory limitations on this Court’s jurisdiction to review state court decisions,” Attorney General Letitia James wrote in a filing.

James, a Democrat, argued that the actions Missouri challenges are not attributable to the state of New York, but rather the Manhattan district attorney, who is elected by voters in the county.  “Allowing Missouri to invoke this court’s jurisdiction to interfere with the enforcement of criminal law in New York is contrary to these foundational principles and undermines New York’s proud tradition of preserving the independence of local DAs,” she wrote.

James also warned that Missouri’s requested relief risks undermining the integrity of the courts and inviting a flood of similar litigation, which she called “unmeritorious.”

The Supreme Court’s short order rejecting Missouri’s notable effort to secure a stay of New York’s gag order and impending sentence against Donald Trump is available at this link.