New York’s top court refuses to hear Trump’s appeal of gag order in hush money case
Donald Trump in court
In the latest legal setback for Donald Trump, New York’s highest court on Tuesday (Jun 18) declined to hear the former US president’s appeal on the gag order in his hush-money case.
No ‘substantial’ constitutional issues
The New York Court of Appeals found that the gag order imposed against Trump does not raise “substantial” constitutional issues which warrant an immediate intervention, reported the Associated Press.
This comes after the former president’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the state’s high court over a month ago amid the ongoing trial to determine if Trump falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.
The jury found the former US president guilty on each of the 34 charges against him.
In the notice of appeal filed on May 15, Trump’s attorneys argued that the gag order restricted his “core political speech on matters of central importance at the height of his Presidential campaign.”
They also said that the case presents “substantial constitutional questions of the highest importance.”
However, New York’s highest court disagreed.
The court said it would not automatically hear the case and wrote that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved,” in its decision.
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, in their filing, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and said that Trump has a “well-documented history of leveling threatening, inflammatory, and denigrating remarks against trial participants.”
About Trump’s gag order
Judge Juan Merchan,who oversaw the trial, had imposed a gag order on Trump weeks before the court proceedings had begun upon the prosecutors’ request to block him from speaking about the witnesses.
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This was after the prosecutors raised concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tendency to attack people involved in his cases.
During the trial, Merchan held the former president in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 for violating the gag order. He also threatenedto put Trump in jail if he did it again.
The order remains in effect weeks after the conclusion of the trial and might stay in placetill July 11, when the former presidentis scheduled to be sentenced.
(With inputs from agencies)