最高法院驳回特朗普为避免判刑而做出的最后一搏
【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 9 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）在法院以 5 比 4 的投票结果拒绝阻止对唐纳德·J·特朗普的刑事判决后，他定于周五上午面对纽约法官。《纽约时报》记者Ben ProtessKate Christobek 和 Adam Liptak对此作了下述报道。
美国最高法院周四驳回了当选总统唐纳德·J·特朗普在纽约停止刑事判决的紧急请求，几乎确保了判决将于周五按计划进行。
在一份简短的未签署命令中，五名大法官多数指出，特朗普先生不会面临监禁，他仍然可以“通过上诉以正常方式”质疑他的定罪。
尽管特朗普辩称，在就职典礼前 10 天被判刑会分散人们对总统过渡的注意力，但多数人认为，“判刑对当选总统的责任造成的负担相对较小。”
四名保守派法官——克拉伦斯·托马斯、塞缪尔·阿利托二世、尼尔·戈萨奇和布雷特·卡瓦诺——指出了不同意见，但没有提供理由。
法院的裁决意味着特朗普将面临 34 项重罪指控，罪名是伪造记录以掩盖危及他 2016 年总统竞选的性丑闻。
在纽约州法院进行了一系列不成功的法律手段后，这位前任和未来总统原本希望在一个更友好的听众面前获胜：最高法院以 6 比 3 的保守派多数席位获胜，其中包括特朗普在第一任期内任命的三名法官。
但法院暂时选择不介入此案，尽管在最近的一系列其他案件中，法院都曾为特朗普出力。7 月，法官们对前总统的公职行为给予了广泛的豁免权，削弱了华盛顿对特朗普的另一起刑事案件。
法院在纽约案件中表现出的独立性——在就职典礼前不到两周——是这位前任和未来总统为避免尴尬的判刑场面而疯狂努力的结果。经过数月的拖延，判决将正式确定特朗普的定罪，巩固他作为第一位入主白宫的重罪犯的地位。
几乎任何其他被告现在都会被判刑。但自从陪审团于 5 月判定特朗普面临的所有 34 项罪名成立以来，特朗普的律师已提交了大量文件，寻求撤销定罪，或至少阻止判刑。
尽管负责此案的法官最近表示将免除特朗普的监禁或任何其他实质性惩罚，使得任何判决都只是象征性的，但他们仍在加大力度。
判决定于周五上午 9:30 在曼哈顿下城的同一间法庭开始，去年春天特朗普的审判就在这里进行。这位当选总统表示他计划以虚拟方式出庭。
这是一个正在发展的故事，将会更新。
题图：美国最高法院的门面。图片来源：Kent Nishimura 为《纽约时报》提供
附原英文报道：
Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Last-Ditch Effort to Avoid Sentencing
After the court declined in a 5-to-4 decision to block Donald J. Trump’s criminal sentencing, he is scheduled to face a New York judge on Friday morning.
The facade of the U.S. Supreme Court.
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s last-ditch request to halt his sentencing on Friday was denied by the Supreme Court.Credit…Kent Nishimura for The New York Times
By Ben ProtessKate Christobek and Adam Liptak
Jan. 9, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied President-elect Donald J. Trump’s emergency bid to halt his criminal sentencing in New York, all but ensuring it would proceed as planned on Friday.
In a brief unsigned order, a five-justice majority noted that Mr. Trump was not facing jail time and that he could still challenge his conviction “in the ordinary course on appeal.”
Although Mr. Trump had argued that being sentenced 10 days before his inauguration would distract from the presidential transition, the majority held, “The burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial.”
Four of the court’s conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh — noted dissents without providing reasons.
The court’s decision means Mr. Trump will face sentencing for 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that had endangered his 2016 presidential campaign.
After a series of unsuccessful legal maneuvers in New York State courts, the former and future president had hoped to prevail before a friendlier audience: a Supreme Court with a 6-to-3 conservative majority that includes three justices Mr. Trump appointed during his first term.
But the court opted to stay out of the case for now, despite having come to Mr. Trump’s rescue in a string of other recent matters. In July, the justices granted former presidents broad immunity for their official acts, undermining a separate criminal case against Mr. Trump in Washington.
The court’s show of independence in the New York case — less than two weeks before the inauguration — capped the former and future president’s frenzied campaign to stave off the embarrassing spectacle of a sentencing. After months of delay, the sentencing will now formalize Mr. Trump’s conviction, cementing his status as the first felon to occupy the Oval Office.
Almost any other defendant would have been sentenced by now. But ever since a jury convicted Mr. Trump in May on all 34 counts he faced, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have lodged a flurry of filings seeking to unwind the conviction, or at least block the sentencing.
They intensified the effort even after the judge overseeing the case recently signaled that he would spare Mr. Trump jail time, or any other substantive punishment, making any sentencing largely symbolic.
The sentencing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the same Lower Manhattan courtroom where Mr. Trump’s trial took place last spring. The president-elect has indicated he plans to appear virtually.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
