WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a long-shot lawsuit brought by Missouri attempting to block legal proceedings in former President Donald Trump‘s hush money case in New York.
The court rejected Missouri’s bid to sue the state of New York, meaning the justices will not lift the gag order or delay sentencing in the unusual claim brought by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican who is running for a full term this fall.
Many commentators said the filing was more of a political stunt aimed at gaining publicity than a serious legal claim. It echoed to some extent an attempt by Texas in 2020 to challenge election results in states that Trump lost to President Joe Biden in the presidential election, which the Supreme Court also swiftly rejected.
“New York is working to hijack our national election and jail President Trump. Missourians absolutely have an interest in ensuring that does not happen,” Bailey said Monday in a post on X.
A spokesman for New York Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment.
The brief order noted that two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, would have allowed the state to at least file its lawsuit directly at the Supreme Court although they would not grant the emergency relief that Bailey wanted. That tracks their approach in similar cases involving one state suing another, including the 2020 election case.
Trump was convicted of 34 counts for falsifying business records related to payments made to attorney Michael Cohen as reimbursement for hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 campaign. Daniels testified she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.
New York Judge Juan Merchan issued an initial gag order in March ahead of Trump’s trial. After the trial, Merchan lifted some of the restrictions, allowing him to speak about the witnesses who testified and the jury.
Trump remains restricted from commenting on court staff, individual prosecutors and family members of those involved in the case.
It remains unclear if Trump will even be sentenced before November’s election. Sentencing was initially scheduled for July but has already been delayed to September at the earliest.
Bailey took the rare step of trying to sue the state of New York before the Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over disputes between states.
Usually, such disputes involve issues like water rights over rivers that cross state lines.
It would have been highly unusual for the Supreme Court to allow a state to interfere with judicial proceedings in another state.
Bailey claimed in his filing that the gag order and a potential sentence prevented Missouri voters from hearing relevant information from a presidential candidate in the midst of the campaign.
“Missouri has a strong, judicially enforceable interest in its citizens and electors being able to hear Trump’s campaigning free from any gag order or other interference imposed by the State of New York,” he wrote in the court filing.
In responding to the claims, James said in a court filing there was no basis for the Supreme Court to get involved, saying that the complaint “consists of generalized and speculative grievances.”
Trump, she added, “already can speak about all of the topics” the state says voters might want to hear about.
Bailey, James said, “is clearly and impermissibly seeking to further the individual interests of former President Trump.”
Before the trial, Trump was fined for violating the original gag order, especially as it related to Cohen, one of the key witnesses.
Bailey was appointed attorney general by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson when the incumbent, Eric Schmitt, was elected to the Senate in 2022. Bailey is now running for a full term.
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