Alito, Trump spoke a day before Supreme Court filing in hush-money case

By NPR Washington Desk

Published January 8, 2025 at 8:16 AM CST

President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club on Jan. 7 in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20.

Updated January 08, 2025 at 21:26 PM ET

Justice Samuel Alito spoke to Donald Trump on Tuesday, a day before the president-elect urged the Supreme Court to halt his Jan. 10 sentencing in the New York hush-money case, the justice said in a statement from the Supreme Court. They did not discuss the case, however, Alito said.

Alito said that he spoke to Trump at the request of William Levi, his former law clerk, about his qualifications for a position in the incoming administration.

"I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon," Alito said in the statement. "We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect."

The call was first reported by ABC News.

Earlier Wednesday Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt his sentencing in the New York hush money case after a New York appeals court rejected a similar appeal Tuesday.

Following last summer's Supreme Court ruling that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution, Trump has argued that as president-elect he is immune from all prosecution and sentencing.

"This court should enter an immediate stay of further proceedings in the New York trial court to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government," Trump's lawyers argued in their application to the Supreme Court. The court ordered prosecutors to respond by Thursday morning. Trump's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday, just 10 days before his inauguration.

The hush money case is the only one of Trump's multiple criminal cases to go to trial.

A state jury convicted Trump for 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump's legal team had sought to delay or scrap the entire case, arguing the president-elect was immune from prosecution.