Trump sentencing to proceed in New York after Supreme Court rejects appeal

After the Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch plea to delay the legal process that would make him the first felon to be found guilty in the White House, US President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced by a New York court for eluded to a sentence.

In a 5-4 decision that was issued late on Thursday, the highest US court on Friday approved Trump’s sentencing, with two conservative justices joining the three liberal members.

The sentencing, which Trump is expected to attend online, will happen in the Manhattan courtroom just 10 days before his inauguration for his second term as president.

Informing a majority to reject Trump’s request, Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett sat alongside the court’s three liberal justices, including Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Four conservative justices dissented from the decision, noting they would have granted Trump’s request. They did not provide their reasoning.

The&nbsp, court’s brief, unsigned order gave two reasons for the decision.

The court said the “alleged evidentiary violations” at Trump’s state-court trial “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal”.

In light of the trial court’s stated intention to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” following a brief virtual hearing, it added that “the burden that sentencing will impose” on Trump’s responsibilities is “relatively insubstantial.”

Trump said in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after the&nbsp, Supreme&nbsp, Court’s order: “I read it, and I thought was a fair decision, actually”.

Trump added on his social media platform: “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL”.

In exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump ten years prior, a jury found her guilty last May of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Prosecutors have said the payment was designed to help Trump’s chances in the 2016 election, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump is the first former US president to have a criminal conviction and the first former president to have a conviction. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Justice Juan Merchan, the trial judge, stated last week that he would likely grant Trump an unconditional discharge and that he was not inclined to put him in prison.

This would place a guilty judgement on Trump’s record, but would not impose custody, a fine or probation.