The Supreme Court didn’t save Donald Trump this time, and with a 5-4 decision Thursday evening refused to delay his sentencing in New York on Friday morning.
That means that 10 days before his inauguration, the incoming president was officially sentenced as a convicted felon. As he had signaled he would do, Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional release,” letting Trump avoid jail time so that he can assume the office of the presidency. But the conviction is now an indelible part of Trump’s record.
As expected, Trump raged at the decision, and there will be appeals. But today — Jan. 10, 2025 — gave us something that has so far been elusive.
As expected, Trump raged at the decision, and there will be appeals. But today — Jan. 10, 2025 — gave us something that has so far been elusive: Trump has, however small it seems, finally been held accountable for his crimes. Unlike lesser mortals, he will avoid jail time, though. That’s yet another sign that in some respects Trump still remains above the law.
But as Trump himself knows, the stigma will linger and the sentence is an extraordinary inflection point in presidential history: Amid all the posturing and pomp in the lead-up to the inauguration; amid all the saber-rattling and sycophancy of the past few weeks; and despite the failure of so many of our constitutional guardrails — one fact is unavoidable. As of today, Donald Trump is a convicted criminal in the eyes of the law.
In May, a jury convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to stay silent before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with the married man and father.
Even though this may have been the least of Trump’s crimes, it was not a trivial matter. His attorney, Michael Cohen, went to prison for his role in arranging the payments. And, as Cohen later explained, the payoffs were not designed to cover up a personal scandal but were made “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.” Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including “two counts of illegal campaign contributions related to payments to women.”
Cohen served more than a year in prison and a year and a half in home confinement. Trump himself faced as many as four years for his own felony convictions. But, unlike, Cohen, Trump will not serve a day.
Even so, Merchan repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of Trump’s crimes. His conduct, wrote Merchan last week, was “premediated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world.”
And the judge pushed back on the reckless rhetoric of Trump’s lawyers (some of whom are about to assume key positions in the Department of Justice).
“Counsel has resorted to language, indeed rhetoric, that has no place in legal pleadings” he wrote. “For example, countless times in their Motion to Dismiss, counsel accuses the prosecution and this Court of engaging in ‘unlawful’ and ‘unconstitutional’ conduct.”
Merchan also noted Trump’s overt contempt for the judicial process. “Indeed, Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole.”
But Merchan defied the Trumpian attempts to bully and intimidate the court. “Dangerous rhetoric is not a welcome form of argument and will have no impact on how the Court renders this or any other Decision,” Merchan wrote.
On Friday, Merchan rendered his verdict on the first convicted felon ever elected to the presidency of the United States.
