On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals, which is the state's top court, tossed out an appeal from former and potentially future President Donald Trump to do with his gag order for the hush money case.
As coverage from The Hill explains:
The gag order, which remains in partial effect ahead of Trump’s sentencing, bars the former president from making public remarks about prosecutors involved in the case or their families. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and Judge Juan Merchan remain fair game.
In a brief order, the court said “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved” and that it would dismiss Trump’s appeal.
The former president has argued the gag order violates the First Amendment rights of him and his millions of supporters, emphasizing his status as a presidential candidate in this year’s election.
Trump asked the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to hear his challenge after his arguments were rejected by lower courts.
...
The gag order once prevented Trump from attacking key witnesses — like Cohen and Daniels — and jurors, but the judge partially lifted the order after the trial’s conclusion.
New York’s top court previously tossed the former president’s appeal challenging the full set of restrictions. His latest appeal concerned the narrowed terms.
The piece also included comment from Steven Cheung, spokesperson for the Trump campaign. "The Democrats are trying to unlawfully gag President Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, because they know that he is dominating this election, will win on November 5th, and will Make America Great Again!" he said.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts on May 30 in a New York City "trial," and his sentencing has been moved from July 11 to September 18 to now November 26, bringing us to after the presidential election. The Trump legal team had argued that sentencing before would amount to election interference.
While Vice President Kamala Harris was all too happy to bring up during Tuesday's debate on ABC News that Trump has been "prosecuted" as a way for her to discuss "respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement," the various criminal cases against Trump have been highly criticized. That's especially true with the one brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, with a top Department of Justice (DOJ) employee from the Biden-Harris administration, Matthew Colangelo, working on the case.
"Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And I'm winning most of them and I'll win the rest on appeal," Trump made clear. Legal experts widely believe that the hush money case is the weakest and that Trump's conviction will be overturned on appeal.
"It's weaponization. And they used it. And it's never happened in this country. They used it to try and win an election. They're fake cases," Trump also insisted.
Bragg charged Trump with felonies in the case when he could have brought the charges as misdemeanors, was using an untested legal theory, and prosecuted Trump after the statute of limitations had expired. Others had also previously declined to bring such charges against Trump.
From the start, there have also been plenty of concerns about the judge in the case, Judge Juan Merchan, and his conflicts of interest through his political donations and most pressingly his adult daughter, Loren Merchan, with her connections to Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris. The judge has still stubbornly resisted such charges and has repeatedly rejected calls to recuse. In addition to the bias involved, Merchan's jury instructions also made a "guilty" verdict, which was handed down on May 30 on all 34 felony charges, that much more likely.
The NY Court of Appeals this morning declined to take up President Trump’s challenge to the continuation of the gag order in his criminal case. pic.twitter.com/FhzpHNQght
— Rob Rosborough (@NYSAppeals) September 12, 2024