(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) New York’s Attorney General Letitia James urged the Supreme Court on July 24, 2024, to stay out of Donald Trump’s porn star witchhunt, arguing that it should not grant a request by Missouri to pause his sentencing hearing and lift the gag order imposed on Trump in the case.
CNN reported that Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Supreme Court earlier this month for permission to file a complaint against New York to pause Trump’s September sentencing hearing and lift the restrictions on his speech. He argued that New York infringed on Missouri voters’ right to hear from presidential candidates.
However, James told the Supreme Court in a new filing that Missouri had no legal basis for seeking that type of relief from the justices.
“[The relief] seriously undermines the integrity of the courts and risks setting a dangerous precedent that encourages a flood of similar, unmeritorious litigation,” she said.
Jame argued that Missouri can only obtain the type of relief sought through her state’s courts, not the Supreme Court.
“Allowing Missouri to file this suit for such relief against New York would permit an extraordinary and dangerous end-run around former President Trump’s ongoing state court proceedings and the statutory limitations on this Court’s jurisdiction to review state court decisions,” she wrote.
The news source also added that James argued that Missouri lacked the legal right—known as “standing”—to bring its complaint against her state because the harms Bailey said his residents would face without the high court’s intervention are “speculative.”
“The potential sentence and speech restrictions may prove no obstacle to the interests of people who wish to hear from former President Trump,” James wrote.
She also said that Trump’s sentencing in the case has already been moved to September “and may not occur” if the judge who oversaw the trial grants Trump’s request to set aside the verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling granting him partial immunity.
James argued that Missouri’s request was nothing more than the state “impermissibly seeking to further the individual interests of former President Trump.”
