A state appeals court judge on Monday denied Donald Trump's bid for an emergency delay of his impending criminal trial in New York.
The ruling by Justice Lizbeth González of the state Appellate Division came after attorneys for the former president argued the trial needed to be halted because "an impartial jury cannot be selected right now based on prejudicial pretrial publicity." The judge rejected the request in a one-line ruling late Monday afternoon with no explanation.
The ruling came just hours after Trump's attorneys filed an eleventh-hour attempt to delay the trial that centers on charges that Trump falsified business records related to hush-money payments.
The long-shot legal maneuver came exactly one week before the first criminal trial of a former president is scheduled to start.
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The hearing on the venue challenge took place Monday afternoon, with Trump attorney Emil Bove arguing that jury selection cannot proceed in a fair manner because of all the publicity surrounding the case, and that the gag order against his client is unconstitutional.
Steven Wu of the DA's office countered the publicity isn't confined to Manhattan, arguing it's worldwide, due in part to Trump's frequent commentary about the case. He suggested Trump was "trying to have it both ways" by complaining about the publicity while stoking it.
Trump's attorneys filed the challenge as a lawsuit invoking a provision of New York law known as Article 78. An Article 78 challenges allows litigants, whether in ongoing litigation or otherwise, to seek relief from allegedly unlawful state or local government action.
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Trump tried a similar move before the same appeals court last year, when he challenged a partial gag order issued by Judge Arthur Engoron in the civil fraud case brought against the former president and his company by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The appeals court refused Trump's request to stay the case while he appealed the order and eventually ruled against him. In the ruling, they chided his attorneys for having brought the challenge as an Article 78 petition, calling it an "extraordinary remedy" that was not warranted in that situation.
While Trump has not formally asked Judge Juan Merchan for a change of venue, in a court filing last month seeking to delay the trial because of pretrial publicity, his lawyers contended New York County — Manhattan — is "overwhelmingly biased against President Trump." The filing noted in part that the county voted "overwhelmingly" for other candidates in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
The DA's office responded in a filing, arguing that “given the sheer size of New York County, it is absurd for defendant to assert that it will be impossible or even impractical to find a dozen fair and impartial jurors, plus alternates, among more than a million people.”
The judge has yet to rule on that motion.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
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