A federal judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, spurning the former president’s attempt at an end-run around the state court where he was convicted and is set to be sentenced in two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling — just hours after Trump’s lawyers asked him to weigh the move — upends the Republican presidential nominee’s plan to move the case to federal court so that he could seek to have his conviction overturned in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
Hellerstein, echoing his denial of Trump’s pretrial bid to move the case, said the defense failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court ruled are immune from prosecution.
Judge Hellerstein has said everything that needed to said the first time the Trump legal team attempted to move this to federal court. I’m so glad the clapback was right there and ready to be delivered. The Supreme Court are going to be the one who sit on their hands for 6 months before saying they won’t hear it.
Can’t merchan just sentence and order the scentence to start immediately. Ability take the convicted felon into custody please. And immediately send him to a federal supermax until SCOTUS rules.
Then scotus either have to stay that order or he’s off to prison. I’ll bet we will see same day delivery by SCOTUS then.
My girlfriend is a law processor and said nothing about what has gone on is normal and the judge absolutely would be doing exactly as you describe if it were literally anyone else.
He’s been a complete wild card. I have no idea what his motivations are.
My understanding is that the judge is proceeding the slow, careful way he is to prevent the inevitable appeal from having any chance of succeeding.