Trump Setback — NY Top Court Will Not Hear Gag Order Appeal
The gag order on former President Donald Trump will remain in place after the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear the case. The court decoded that the order does not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that…
The Gag order on former President Donald Trump will remain in place after the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear the case.
The court decoded that the order does not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that would need immediate intervention, per the Associated Press.
Trump has continually bucked against the Gag order, which prohibits him from talking about witnesses, jurors and others involved in the hush money case.
The case resulted in 34 guilty verdicts against the former president for falsifying business records.
While the appeals court will not hear the issue, Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the trial, is expected to rule on the defense’s request to lift the Gag order.
Trump’s argued in the Appeal that the Gag order limited Trump’s “core political speech on matters of central importance at the height of his Presidential campaign.”
In a decision list posted Tuesday, the Court of Appeals said “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”
Trump’s lawyers now have 30 days to file a motion for leave to Appeal, according to court spokesperson Gary Spencer.
Merchan placed the Gag order before the trial even started after prosecutors were concerned about Trump’s tendency to attack people involved in his cases.
During the trial, Trump was held in contempt 10 times for violating the Gag order and fined $10,000. He was also threatened with jail time if he continued to violate the order.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11.
The district attorney’s office wrote a letter to the Court of Appeals, urging the panel to reject the Appeal.
Prosecutors said that matter could be dealt with via post-trial court filings.
Trump’s lawyers
sent a letter to Merchan after the conviction asking him to lift the Gag order.
A follow-up motion was filed last week.
Prosecutors need to respond by Thursday.
Merchan is expected to rule after that — possibly before the June 27 debate with President Joe Biden.
“It’s a little bit of the theater of the absurd at this point, right? Michael Cohen is no longer a witness in this trial,” an attorney for Trump, Todd Blanche, said to the AP earlier this month. “The trial is over.”