Former President Donald Trump can only appeal his Manhattan felony conviction in New York state court, legal experts say, but he could turn to the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on federal questions — including whether federal election law violations could be the basis for prosecution in state courts.
The Manhattan jury convicted Trump Thursday of all 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. Prosecutors alleged that Trump disguised $130,000 in hush money as a legal expense as part of a scheme to keep information about alleged extramarital sex from voters and unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.
On Friday, Trump vowed to appeal: "So we're going to be appealing this scam. We're going to appeal it on many different things - he wouldn't allow us to have witnesses, he wouldn't allow us to talk, he wouldn't allow us to do anything. The judge was a tyrant."
On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on "Fox and Friends" that the "Supreme Court should step in" on any potential Trump appeal.
"I think that the justices on the court, I know many of them personally, I think they're deeply concerned about that as we are," Johnson said. "So I think they'll set this straight but it's going to take awhile."
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Richard Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA, said that state courts in New York would first handle any state law questions. Trump's case would work up through the next two levels of the New York court system, with the state Court of Appeals being the highest court.
At the Supreme Court, Trump could pose questions of constitutional rights and federal election law.
"Trump could raise various issues related to due process, such as the fairness of the proceedings, bias of the judge, et cetera," Hasen told Salon. "More likely, he would argue that the New York election law that he was prosecuted under to turn the false business records misdemeanors into felonies improperly relied upon alleged federal election law violations."
Trump was convicted of felony falsification of records — which prosecutors could raise from a felony to misdemeanor after proving an "intent to defraud."
The jury instructions said: "Under our law, a person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when, with intent to defraud that includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof, that person: makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise."
Prosecutors alleged that Trump intended to commit, aid or conceal a violation of state election law section 17-152.
That statute "provides that any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be........