No, Trump cannot directly appeal his hush money conviction to the U.S.
Supreme Court
�Trump does not have direct access to the Supreme Court, nor does any
sitting president,� an expert told VERIFY.

Author: Erin Jones, Kelly Jones
Published: 3:33 PM CDT June 4, 2024
Updated: 2:30 PM CDT June 5, 2024
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Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of
felony crimes after a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of
falsifying business records in his hush money trial on May 30.

Now, he�s calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene before his
sentencing on July 11, which would be just days before Republicans are set
to pick the former president as the 2024 nominee.

�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? The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!� Trump
said in a Truth Social post on June 2.

Can Trump directly appeal his hush money conviction to the U.S. Supreme
Court?
THE SOURCES

New York State Unified Court System
New York Court of Appeals
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Courts
The Judicial Learning Center, a nonprofit founded by leaders of the
legal community in St. Louis, Missouri
Clark Neily, J.D., senior vice president for Legal Studies at the Cato
Institute, a libertarian think tank
Michael Bloch, J.D., trial attorney and partner at Bloch & White LLP
Michael A. Dichio, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science at
the University of Utah

THE ANSWER
This is false.

No, Trump cannot directly appeal his hush money conviction to the U.S.
Supreme Court.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Former President Donald Trump cannot directly appeal his hush money
conviction in New York to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Instead, the case would have to work its way through the New York appellate
court system before it could be elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

�Trump does not have direct access to the Supreme Court, nor does any
sitting president,� said Michael A. Dichio, Ph.D., assistant professor of
political science at the University of Utah.

Michael Bloch, J.D., a partner at Bloch & White LLP, a New York-based law
firm, agrees.

�There�s nothing about the fact that Trump is a former president that would
allow him to appeal what happened at trial here in New York directly to the
Supreme Court,� Bloch told VERIFY.

After Trump is sentenced by New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan
Merchan at the Manhattan criminal courthouse on July 11, he can challenge
his conviction in a New York appellate division court and possibly the New
York Court of Appeals, the state�s highest court and the court of last
resort in most cases.
Credit: VERIFY

Trump�s lawyers have already been laying the groundwork for appeals with
objections to the charges and rulings at trial. But the appeals process
could take months or possibly years, according to a New York Times report.

�Like any other case that originates at the state level, that case would
have to be appealed through the hierarchy of courts within that state,�
Dichio explained.

Dichio says Trump could technically appeal to the Supreme Court level �but
not right now, and such an appeal is highly unlikely � even if he did, he
could not directly appeal from this current verdict.�

That�s because the Supreme Court only takes cases from state courts when
the appeal involves the U.S. Constitution, according to the U.S. Supreme
Court, U.S. Courts and the Judicial Learning Center.

�If Trump raises any issues on appeal dealing with federal law, including
the U.S. Constitution, then he may be able to appeal a loss on those issues
to the U.S. Supreme Court,� said Clark Neily, J.D., senior vice president
for Legal Studies at the Cato Institute.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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