Justice Juan M. Merchan, an even-keeled jurist, has been in the president-elect’s cross-hairs for nearly two years.

President-elect Trump was spared any punishment for his hush money criminal conviction Friday when a New York judge sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, eschewing jail time while securing

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction but frees him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

The Supreme Court rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to stop a sentencing hearing in his hush money case on Thursday, essentially guaranteeing the first-ever sentencing of a former president on criminal charges will take place Friday in New York—though Trump will likely face few,

The sentencing comes 10 days before Donald Trump is due to be sworn in for a second non-consecutive term in the White House.

The former president has separately sued the judge in a state appeals court, claiming that the judge overstepped his jurisdiction when he denied Trump’s presidential “immunity” defense by allowing the sentencing date to move forward without an appeals court decision on “immunity.”

The high court’s action clears the way for the president-elect to be sentenced for his criminal conviction in Manhattan on Friday.