WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to postpone President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case, which means he will have to face sentencing in a New York courtroom on Friday.
Citing the court's opinion in July that granted him "presidential immunity," Trump's legal team said in a document filed on Tuesday that the trial court -- Supreme Court of New York County, New York -- "wrongly refused to recognize the immunity from prosecution of the president-elect during the period of the presidential transition."
Trump's lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately pause the ongoing criminal case in New York while appealing a legal issue concerning whether Trump is immune from prosecution because of his former role as president.
The Supreme Court, despite its 6-to-3 conservative majority, denied Trump's last-ditch effort to avoid criminal sentencing before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
"After months of delay, the sentencing will now formalize Mr. Trump's conviction, cementing his status as the first felon to occupy the Oval Office," said The New York Times. ■