NY State Court Refuses To Overturn Trump Hush Money Conviction Based on Supreme Court Immunity Ruling

On December 16, 2024, Judge Juan Merchan, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, issued an opinion on President Elect Donald Trump’s motion to vacate his conviction in the hush money case following the United States Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) July 1 ruling on presidential immunity.

In that 6-3 decision, SCOTUS stated,

The President is not above the law. But under our system of separated powers, the President may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for his official acts.

Trump v. United States, 603 US 593 [2024]

On May 30, 2024 Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

In his opinion, Judge Merchan noted that Trump’s failure to raise Presidential immunity as a defense or bar to admission of evidence until March 7, 2024, 18 days before the March trial date then scheduled in the case, notwithstanding he had raised the issue in unrelated proceedings.

Based on the SCOTUS decision, Trump’s team argued that Presidential immunity prohibited the admission of certain evidence presented during the trial, including testimony from White House aides and Trump’s tweets.

Judge Merchan rejected these arguments, finding that the evidence in question pertained to Trump’s personal conduct, rather than his official presidential duties.

He concluded that the acts for which Trump was convicted were “decidedly personal” and outside of the protections of Presidential immunity.

Judge Merchan observed that even if he was mistaken in allowing the so called “official acts” evidence, the error was harmless “in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt.”

Trump criticized the opinion on Truth Social stating, “In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity.”

Sentencing on Trump’s conviction has been postponed indefinitely following Trump’s election.