Supreme Court rejects Missouri's bid to halt Trump’s sentencing in N.Y. hush money case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the state of Missouri’s long-shot bid at halting former President Donald Trump’s sentencing and gag order in his New York hush money case. Missouri had argued that the rights of Missouri voters to hear from presidential candidates were being violated by the New York criminal proceeding.

In an unsigned two-sentence order, the court denied Missouri's motion for leave to file a bill of complaint, and dismissed as moot the state's motion for preliminary relief or a stay.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have grant the motion for leave to file the bill of complaint, the order said, but not grant other relief.

In May, a New York jury convicted former Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges stemmed from payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from publicizing an alleged affair in the leadup to the 2016 election. Trump denied the affair and said that he intends to appeal the conviction.

In the meantime, Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey took the extremely unusual step of seeking permission from the high court to file a so-called original appeal, which normally involves disputes between states over such matters as water rights and boundary disputes. In this case, however, Bailey sought to file a complaint aimed at delaying Trump’s sentencing and removing restrictions on the former president’s speech — a move so unconventional that Georgetown law professor Stephen Vladeck called it “frankly, ridiculous.”

New York, in response, accused Missouri of “bad faith” assertions that if allowed to proceed would set a harmful precedent for future unsubstantiated lawsuits. New York also emphasized that the case would