Trump Appeals Judge’s Denial of Request to Move NY Case to Federal Court

Former President Donald Trump departs the courtroom after being found guilty on all 34 counts in his so-called “hush money” trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 30, 2024. Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump is attempting to bring his New York criminal case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as the case heads toward sentencing.

On Sept. 3, Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s attempt to move the case from state court to the federal Southern District of New York based, in part, on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in July.

Hellerstein stated that he hadn’t changed his previous determination that the conduct in question in the New York case was unofficial.

Trump v. United States, the immunity ruling that Trump cited in his request, saw the Supreme Court holding that presidents did not enjoy criminal immunity for unofficial acts.

Hellerstein also said it would be inappropriate for his court “to evaluate issues of unfairness or error in the state trial.”

Trump quickly responded with a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo also sent a letter asking Justice Juan Merchan not to delay sentencing.

“Because there is no pending notice of removal with the federal court, there is no basis for the relief sought in the defendant’s Aug. 29 letter motion,” Colangelo said.

As Colangelo noted, Trump’s attorneys sent a letter asking Merchan on Aug. 29 to allow adequate time for Hellerstein to address Trump’s request.

Colangelo’s office has said it would defer to Merchan on whether to delay sentencing past the presidential election.

Trump is currently scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 18, but his attorneys have said it should wait until after the 2024 presidential election.

“There is no good reason to sentence President Trump prior to Nov. 5, 2024, if there is to be a sentencing at all, or to drive the post-trial proceedings forward on a needlessly accelerated timeline relative to the manner in which similar issues are being addressed by the Special Counsel’s Office and Department of Justice,” the Aug. 29 letter read.

His attorneys were referring to the ongoing election case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, from where the Supreme Court case on immunity stemmed.

The Supreme Court’s decision outlined broad contours for immunity but sent the case back to District Judge Tanya Chutkan for further analysis.

Merchan said on Aug. 5 that he would issue his own ruling on a separate presidential immunity motion on Sept. 16, but the sentencing date remained unchanged.

It was initially postponed from July 11 after the decision in Trump v. United States.

Quoting that decision, Trump’s attorneys said on July 1 that the verdicts in the New York case violate the presidential immunity doctrine and create grave risks of “an Executive Branch that cannibalizes itself.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office opposed Trump’s immunity arguments in state court with a lengthy briefing in July that argued, among other things, that Trump v. United States “has no bearing on this prosecution and would not support vacatur of the jury’s unanimous verdict.”

Trump’s attorneys have also criticized Merchan’s involvement with the case given his daughter’s work as a Democrat political consultant with Authentic Campaigns.

In an Aug. 14 letter to Merchan, Trump’s attorneys said that “by adjourning the sentencing until after election—which is of paramount importance to the entire nation, including tens of millions of people who do not share the views of Authentic, its executives, and its clients—the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”

Merchan has said recusal is unnecessary.

On Aug. 13, he issued an order stating that the New York Supreme Court “will continue to base its rulings on the evidence and the law, without fear or favor, casting aside undue influence.”