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The US Supreme Court rejected Trump’s last-minute request to stay his decision on Friday in his money laundering case.
The president-elect urged the high court to consider whether he had the right to suspend his sentence, but the justices rejected the request by a 5-4 vote.
Trump was found guilty of perjury to cover up a $130,000 payment to movie star Stormy Daniels in 2016 in court filings.
Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, indicated in a recent ruling that he would not consider jail time for Trump.
The president-elect was outraged by the decision on Thursday evening, telling reporters that it was “disgraceful”, and “the right decision, really.”
“It’s a judge who shouldn’t be on the case,” he said, apparently referring to Justice Merchan, adding “he may be happy with his political opponent”.
Two of the Supreme Court’s justices — John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett — joined three liberals in rejecting Trump’s request for a delay.
The remaining four justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — would have ruled against Trump.
Alito was criticized for speaking to Trump a day before the ruling when the chief justice recommended one of his former secretaries to work with the incoming president’s administration.
Three New York courts rejected Trump’s delay before the Supreme Court issued a final ruling on Thursday evening to allow the decision to go ahead as planned.
The justices rejected Trump’s request because they believed his concerns could be resolved on appeal.
They also wrote that the burden of proof was “low”.
Trump’s lawyers also asked the Supreme Court to consider whether president-elects are immune from impeachment.
Manhattan prosecutors urged the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s request, saying there was a “compelling public interest” in the decision and that there was “no need to act”.
Following a guilty verdict in May 2024, Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July, but his lawyers persuaded Justice Merchan to delay the sentence three times.
Last week, Justice Merchan announced that the ruling would continue until January 10, just days before Trump’s inauguration.
The past few days have seen a flurry of appeals and court filings from Trump’s lawyers, trying to block the decision.
But one after the other, New York’s appeals courts rejected those requests.
Finally on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
The court should suspend the proceedings “to protect the great injustice and to harm the institution of the President and the functioning of the government,” he wrote.
The 6-3 majority of the bench handed Trump a major victory last year, when they ruled that US presidents are not guilty of impeachment for “business activities” that occurred while in office.
The decision led to federal charges against Trump on charges that he illegally interfered in the 2020 election, which he has denied and denied.
But since his re-election, Trump’s lawyers have tried to persuade several judges that presidential immunity should also apply to the president-elect in these Manhattan cases.
Manhattan prosecutors argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that “Trump’s extraordinary defense is inconsistent with any court decision”.
“It is amazing that there is only one president at a time,” critics wrote.
Separately, a group of former government officials and legal experts wrote an amicus brief – a letter of support – to the Supreme Court, asking the judges to reject “Trump’s attempt to avoid accountability”.
In another legal setback for Trump on Thursday, a Georgia appeals court denied a request to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s part in Trump’s alleged conspiracy to prevent the transfer of power to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Lawyers for Walt Nauta, a former agent, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira said the release would unfairly harm the lawsuits against them.
