The decision came in response to a lawsuit by the state of Missouri claiming that the case infringed on voters’ rights.
The US Supreme Court has declined to halt Donald Trump‘s upcoming sentencing for his conviction in state court in New York on felony charges involving hush money paid to a porn star and a related gag order until after the upcoming presidential election.
Monday’s decision by the justices has come in response to a lawsuit by the state of Missouri claiming that the case against Trump infringed on the right of voters under the US Constitution to hear from the Republican presidential nominee as he seeks to regain the White House.
The Supreme Court’s order was unsigned.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito indicated they would have allowed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, to file the suit, though not grant his push to quickly lift the gag order and delay sentencing.
Bailey argued that the New York gag order, which Missouri wanted stayed until after the election, wrongly limits what the GOP presidential nominee can say on the campaign trail around the country, and Trump’s eventual sentence could affect his ability to travel.
“The actions by New York have created constitutional harms that threaten to infringe the rights of Missouri’s voters and electors,” he wrote.
While the Supreme Court typically hears appeals, it can act as a trial court in state conflicts.
Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that appeals are moving through state courts and there’s no state-on-state conflict that would allow the Supreme Court to weigh in at this point.
“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,” she wrote.
Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 US election about a sexual encounter she has said she had with Trump.
Prosecutors have said the payment was designed to boost his presidential campaign in 2016, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump, the Republican candidate in this year’s election, denies having had sex with Daniels and has vowed to appeal his conviction after his sentencing, scheduled for September.
He is also trying to have the conviction overturned, pointing to the July Supreme Court ruling that gave him broad immunity from prosecution as a former president. That finding all but ended the possibility that he could face trial on election interference charges in Washington before the election.
The high court has rejected other similar suits framed as a conflict between states in recent years, including over the 2020 presidential election results.