ANDREW McCARTHY: Only one spiteful group wants to see Trump sentenced before inauguration

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : "Again, Merchan is clearly aware that Trump may be permitted to appeal the immunity portion of the ruling immediately.
50% : Nevertheless, Merchan appears to acknowledge that Trump still has cards to play.
45% : Moreover, because the imposition of sentence and entry of the judgment would end the proceedings in the trial court, Trump would be free to commence his appeal of what would be 34 felony convictions on the charge of business-records falsification.
45% : In that scenario, the case would theoretically to resume in 2029 (when Trump would be 82-years-old) with final presentencing rulings, the imposition of sentence and entry of the judgment of conviction, and the appeal.
39% : It is not surprising that Merchan denied Trump's immunity claims; he had already ruled against Trump on this point in an opinion issued on December 16.NEW YORK JUDGE SETS TRUMP SENTENCING DAYS BEFORE INAUGURATIONIn prior proceedings, Manhattan's elected progressive Democratic district attorney, Alvin Bragg, appeared to acknowledge that Trump would likely have a right to appeal an immunity ruling against him prior to being sentenced.
39% : Clearly, there is no public clamor to see Trump sentenced prior to taking the nation's highest office.
36% : In Friday afternoon's ruling, Merchan rejected that proposal, claiming that he had a responsibility to sentence Trump prior to inauguration, lest what the judge frames as an important public interest in getting the sentencing done were undermined.
35% : Ignoring all of that, if one truly believed, as Merchan says he believes, that Trump was proven to have conspired to steal a presidential election - abusing his status, the judge portentously adds, as "the leader of the free world" - then how could a responsible judge in good conscience sentence Trump to a no prison, no probation sentence?
35% : This was, at most, a trivial, time-barred misdemeanor offense of record-keeping regarding a legal transaction (NDAs are legal and common) that Bragg - with enormous help from Merchan - gussied up into 34 felonies by purporting to enforce federal campaign finance laws that a state prosecutor has no authority to enforce (and that the relevant federal authorities concluded Trump didn't violate).CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe American people just elected Donald Trump president by not only an Electoral College majority but by a popular-vote edge.
33% : Merchan must interject the word "fully" because, while Trump can only bring his complete appeal based on all claims of error arising out of the proceedings only after sentencing, he should be able to bring a partial appeal now targeted solely at Merchan's immunity ruling.
32% : I do not believe Trump will agree to this; instead, I suspect he will seek an immediate appeal on the immunity claims that Merchan conclusively rejected in today's 18-page opinion and order.
31% : If that happens, then Merchan would, indeed, be "unable to impose sentence" before inauguration day - in which case Trump would not be a convicted felon upon entering the presidency.
30% : That is no doubt why, rather than push for a sentencing date, Bragg's prosecutors proposed that the case be frozen - held in abeyance while Trump served his four-year presidential term.
30% : And let's put aside that, because Merchan (in violation of due process) did not require a unanimous verdict on the crime Trump was supposedly concealing by falsifying his business records, it cannot fairly be said - as the judge claims - that 12 jurors unanimously found that he conspired to steal the election.
29% : The bait for Trump to agree to this is that Judge Merchan is signaling that the sentence will be a conditional discharge - meaning the president-elect would face no prison time and no post-sentence monitoring (such as probation).
27% : There seems, instead, to be the interest of Merchan - an activist Democrat who contributed to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign against Trump in violation of state judicial ethics rules - to ensure that Trump is branded a convicted felon while there is still opportunity, pre-inauguration, to make that happen.
27% : "Here, Merchan is swallowing whole Bragg's portrayal of the case: We're not merely talking about falsification business records; Trump conspired to steal the 2016 election - a conspiracy that succeeded!CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

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