Can Supreme Court intervene in Trump’s hush money case? Why legal experts are doubtful

Former President Donald Trump has called for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his hush money case in New York City. But the chances of that happening any time soon — or ever — are vanishingly slim, according to legal experts.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, invoked the high court in a June 2 post on Truth Social, just days after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

“The ‘Sentencing’ for not having done anything wrong will be, conveniently for the Fascists, 4 days before the Republican National Convention,” he said, referring to his sentencing hearing that is scheduled to take place July 11.

“A Radical Left Soros backed D.A., who ran on a platform of ‘I will get Trump,’ reporting to an ‘Acting’ Local Judge, appointed by the Democrats, who is HIGHLY CONFLICTED, will make a decision which will determine the future of our Nation?” he added. “The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!”

Trump is not alone in calling for the nation’s highest court to intervene. GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, in a May 31 interview with Fox News, said, “I do believe the Supreme Court should step in…I think they’ll set this straight…”

But in order for the Supreme Court to intercede, Trump’s case must first work its way through the New York state appeals process, which could take a considerable amount of time, legal experts said. And after that happens, it’s still doubtful that the high court would elect to step in.

“It’s very unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court will review this case and, if it does, it will likely be years before it would even have the chance to do so,” Paul Collins, a professor of legal studies and political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told McClatchy News.

State appeals process

There are two state appeals courts that Trump must go through before he can have a shot at reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, experts said.

The Supreme Court “isn’t able to just parachute in and overrule the verdict in the case” before the state appeals process plays out, Ryan Black, a professor of political science at Michigan State University who researches Supreme Court decisions, told McClatchy News.

First, Trump must file an appeal with the New York State Appellate Division — which he has vowed to do, according to the New York Times.

Arguments in this first appeal likely would not begin until 2025, and a decision could take until 2026, according to the outlet.

“If Trump loses at the Appellate Division, he can then make an appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York State,” Collins said.

“It would be extraordinary for the Supreme Court to step in and halt the entire process of a criminal trial and appeals before appeals are even filed,” Stephen Wermiel, a professor of practice of law at American University’s Washington College of Law, told McClatchy News.

Getting to the Supreme Court

Only after Trump has exhausted his state appeals options, will he be able to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to step in, experts said.

However, the high court only deals with matters of federal or constitutional law, so Trump’s legal team must make an argument that its case concerns such a law, Wermiel said.

“For example, they could try to argue that the trial was so unfair as to deny him ‘due process’ under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” Wermiel said, adding, “That seems like a real longshot.”

Another option would be for his attorneys to contend that the crime that resulted in the 34 felony convictions “was a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” Collins said.

But, crucially, for such constitutional issues to be raised before the Supreme Court, they must have first been brought up during the trial, Lucinda Finley, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, told McClatchy News.

“The contentions that his attorneys have raised during the trial are all matters of state law, such as whether certain evidence should have been admitted, or whether the details of (Stormy) Daniels’ testimony were unduly prejudicial,” Finley said.

Further complicating matters for Trump is the fact that the Supreme Court takes up only a small number of state criminal cases each session, Collins said.

“The acceptance rate is less than 1 percent,” Jerry Goldman, a professor emeritus of political science at Northwestern University, told McClatchy News.

And of the few cases the Supreme Court does take up, most result in the state court conviction being upheld, Collins said.

“So, the chances of both review and reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court are very slim,” he added.

This story was originally published June 3, 2024 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Can Supreme Court intervene in Trump’s hush money case? Why legal experts are doubtful."