5-4 decision - update: our president-elect is now a convicted felon!

Trump sentenced to unconditional discharge

So Roberts goes on a tirade a few weeks about about how so many judges and politicians simply ignore their decisions.

Well Merchan not only ignored the immunity decisions in his post trial decisions, he couldn't be bothered to wait to start the trial until the immunity decision was even handed down. He didn't have the same respect for the USSC that either Cannon or Chutkan gave the USSC when they waited on the decision before making immunity decisions. Merchan just went full speed ahead suggesting that the USSC would ultimately rule against Trump,

Well here was a perfect opportunity for Roberts to dump on Merchan and prove that his statements about the high courts decisions being ignored had some meat behind it. But lo and behold, he couldn't muster that sort of principled decision. Instead he did what he always seems to do by taking the path of least resistance.

Now obviously the five person majority was swayed by the fact that Merchan will not be issuing any punishment, instead providing an unconditional discharge as the sentence, which is basically no sentence. But the actual harm done to both Trump and the country as a whole was to allow this charade of a trial to brand our incoming President a convicted felon. What harm would have come to Bragg and Merchan had they had to put this off? Nothing other than ego and politics. They could have just as easily done this sort of sentencing in four years, when it would no longer matter. Not sure what the true motivation was here for Roberts or for Coney Barrett, but it doesn't really seem to put our country or our laws first.