President-elect Donald Trump has been formally sentenced in the Manhattan criminal case which has been broadly condemned as a means of “lawfare” against Trump. On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan, an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge” in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, although he upheld Trump’s controversial conviction.

“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protections afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan stated. He continued, “This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge.”

Trump himself responded that the sentence is proof that the case was manufactured for punitive political purposes. “The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt,” the president-elect posted on Truth Social. He continued, “After … coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE.” Trump observed, “That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED. The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History.”

“As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference,” Trump continued. He declared, “Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice.”

Trump ally and Article III Project founder Mike Davis, a lawyer who has served in all three branches of federal government, commented to The Washington Stand, “Today’s sentencing from Judge Merchan demonstrates why Americans have such little faith in our legal system. Merchan tried to defend himself after the Trump sentencing, but he and Alvin Bragg are responsible for this monster now unleashed.”

In May of last year, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump on 34 felony counts related to allegedly falsifying business records. The charges claimed that Trump had falsified business records in order to use his personal money to pay for a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Falsifying business records is ordinarily classified as a misdemeanor under New York law but is elevated to a “Class E” felony if done to cover up or assist in the commission of another crime. Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that the NDA was a means of unlawfully influencing the 2016 election, thus elevating the charges to felony status and extending the statute of limitations, despite the fact that Trump has still not been convicted of unlawfully influencing the 2016 election.

Prior to convicting Trump, jurors were told by Merchan that they had to unanimously agree that Trump either falsified business records or caused someone else to do so in order to cover up or facilitate a crime, but they did not need to agree on what that crime was or whether Trump was covering it up or facilitating it.

Trump and his legal team had filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking to delay sentencing, which was scheduled for less than two weeks before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The court denied Trump’s request late Thursday, providing two reasons. “First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal,” the court wrote in its one-page order. “Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing.”

Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the court’s liberal wing, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, in rendering the decision. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, along with Trump-appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would have granted Trump’s request.

For his part, Trump accepted the Supreme Court’s decision but vowed to continue appealing his conviction. “I appreciate the time and effort of the United States Supreme Court in trying to remedy the great injustice done to me by the highly conflicted ‘Acting Justice,’ who should not have been allowed to try this case,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social. He continued, “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL. The pathetic, dying remnants of the Witch Hunts against me will not distract us as we unite and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

However, Davis noted that the Supreme Court’s order seemingly conflicted with the court’s own ruling, penned by Roberts and issued in July, on presidential immunity, which was itself in response to another partisan prosecution against Trump. Singling out Roberts and Barrett for siding with the court’s liberal justices, Davis wrote, “The President is immune from criminal prosecution. But not criminal sentencing? Really? You put your personal political standing over the Court’s legitimacy.”