New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has delayed ruling on President-elect Donald Trump’s immunity arguments in his falsified documents case.
According to The Associated Press, Merchan told Trump’s lawyers on Nov. 12, when he was scheduled to make his decision, that he would make his ruling on Nov. 19, just days before Trump’s scheduled sentencing.
Merchan’s decision came just a week after Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
A jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in May, raising the prospect that he could face prison time. Experts told The Epoch Times, however, that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution would preclude Trump from serving prison time.
Trump’s attorneys argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, which granted different levels of criminal immunity for presidents’ official conduct, barred the use of certain evidence and witness testimony. They asked Merchan to toss the verdict and the indictment.
In his July response to the request to dismiss the indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that Trump had waited too long to raise some of his arguments about immunity. He also said a federal judge had deemed the conduct in question—an alleged payment to Stephanie Clifford—outside of a president’s official duties.
Bragg’s office also pointed Merchan to a portion of Hellerstein’s opinion remarking on Trump’s conduct after he entered office.
“Reimbursing Cohen for advancing hush money to Stephanie Clifford cannot be considered the performance of a constitutional duty,” Hellerstein said. “Falsifying business records to hide such reimbursement, and to transform the reimbursement into a business expense for Trump and income to Cohen, likewise does not relate to a presidential duty.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
From The Epoch Times