MANHATTAN (CN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s November sentencing in his Manhattan criminal case has been indefinitely suspended, a New York judge ruled Friday.

In a one-page order, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan agreed to a joint request from prosecutors and defense attorneys to stay the proceedings so they can determine whether Trump, as the incoming president, can be sentenced at all.

“The November 26, 2024, date is adjourned,” Merchan wrote.

Trump claims that he is immune from facing criminal prosecution now that he is the president-elect. He’s pushing for the entire case to be dropped before he’s sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

“Immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interests of justice, in order to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in a court filing earlier this week.

Prosecutors say there’s no precedent to suggest that Trump should be immune from sentencing, however, considering he was found guilty before he won the 2024 election.

“The people deeply respect the office of the president, and are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency, and acknowledge that defendant’s inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote in a letter. “We also deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”

With no looming sentencing next week, Merchan’s delay bought both sides time to litigate this unprecedented legal conundrum.

Friday marks the third time Trump’s sentencing has been delayed. His first sentencing date was July 11, but Merchan pushed the case back to Sept. 18 after a bombshell ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court for broad presidential immunity.

Merchan delayed the sentencing once more to November to keep it from affecting the presidential election.

Now that Trump has won, his lawyers have new fuel to push for the case’s dismissal. They’ll have until Dec. 2 to file their motion to ax the case, Merchan ruled Friday.

Trump’s victory already spelled the end of the federal criminal cases against him. But Bragg indicated earlier this week that his office will continue to pursue Trump’s sentencing.

A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors described as a scheme from Trump to thwart bad press related to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Throughout the roughly six-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence outlining Trump’s efforts to pay off Stormy Daniels — a former adult film star who had sex with Trump in 2006 — to keep her from telling the media about the tryst and interfering with his White House run.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, testified that Trump ordered him to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet. The jury found that Trump later falsified business records to repay Cohen and keep the scheme under wraps.

Trump could face jail time for these felonies. But that remains increasingly unlikely as the status of his sentencing continues to get murkier.

Retired New York Judge George Grasso told Courthouse News earlier this week that the situation places Merchan in the position to make a “decision for the ages” when weighing Trump’s incoming immunity motion.

“Do I think he’s mandated to dismiss the case? No, I don’t think it’s a mandatory thing that he has to do immediately,” Grasso said.

Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung called Merchan’s ruling a “decisive win.”

“The hoax Manhattan case is now fully stayed and sentencing is adjourned,” Cheung said in a statement. “All of the sham lawfare attacks against President Trump are now destroyed and we are focused on Making America Great Again.”

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