WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to call off Friday's sentencing in his hush money case in New York.
Trump's lawyers turned to the nation's highest court on Wednesday after refused to postpone the sentencing by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial and conviction last May on . Trump has denied wrongdoing.
The justices asked for a response from prosecutors by Thursday morning.
Trump's team sought an immediate stay of the scheduled sentencing, saying it would wrongly restrict him as he prepares to take office. While Merchan has indicated he will not impose jail time, fines or probation, Trump's lawyers argued a felony conviction would still have intolerable side effects.
The sentencing should be delayed as he appeals the conviction to 鈥減revent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government," they argued.
The emergency motion is from lawyers John Sauer, Trump鈥檚 pick for solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court, and , in line to be the second-ranking official at the Justice Department.
They also pointed to the Supreme Court ruling giving Trump and other presidents from prosecutions over their actions in office, saying it supports their argument that his New York conviction should be overturned.
Their filing said the New York trial court 鈥渓acks authority to impose sentence and judgment on President Trump 鈥 or conduct any further criminal proceedings against him鈥 until the resolution of his underlying appeal raising substantial claims of Presidential immunity, including by review in this Court if necessary.鈥
The Republican president-elect's spokesman, Steven Cheung, called for the case to be dismissed in a statement. Trump simultaneously filed an emergency appeal in front of New York's highest court.
The Manhattan district attorney鈥檚 office, meanwhile, said it will respond in court papers.
Trump's convictions arose from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it.
The Supreme Court's immunity opinion came in a separate election interference case against him, but Trump鈥檚 lawyers say it means some of the evidence used against him in his hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office.
Merchan has disagreed, finding they would qualify as personal business. The Supreme Court's immunity decision was largely about official acts of presidents while in office.
___ Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.
