A federal judge on Friday denied President Trump’s request to move his 2024 felony conviction in Manhattan to federal court, blocking his quickest path to overturning it. In a 35-page ruling, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York said Trump’s arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient.” This marked the third time Hellerstein rejected such efforts.

Trump’s lawyer, Robert J. Giuffra Jr., said he would appeal. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.

An appeal would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and potentially to the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority. Trump is also appealing through state court, a process that could take years. In March 2023, Trump was indicted in Manhattan state court on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

After the indictment, Trump’s lawyers tried to move the case to federal court, arguing he had a right to be tried there. Hellerstein ruled against them in summer 2023, saying the actions were not related to his presidency. Trump was convicted in May 2024.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled presidents have presumptive immunity for official acts. Trump’s lawyers again asked Hellerstein to reconsider, but he denied the request, writing that the hush-money payments were “private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”.