Donald J. Trump’s lawyers spent earlier this week trying to stop the former president’s trial on charges that he covered up a sex scandal.
They tried again Wednesday, filing a civil lawsuit in the court of appeals against the judge in the case, records show. Although the filing has been sealed, three people with knowledge of the matter said it challenges various issues related to the trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday.
The filing underscores Mr. Trump’s growing desperation — and scattershot approach — to delay the trial. Delay was one of the former president’s favorite legal strategies, not just in the Manhattan case, but in all of his legal entanglements.
The papers include a request for the appeals court to put the case on hold while it considers whether trial judge Juan M. Merchan should be fired, the people said. Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that Judge Mercan had a conflict of interest, citing his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant.
Ethics experts have said that Justice Mercan does not need to step aside, and the judge has previously declined to recuse himself, noting that a judicial ethics panel concluded last year that he had not recused himself. There is real conflict. Trump’s team recently asked Judge Mercan to step aside again, and the judge is expected to issue a response this week.
In their lawsuit against the judge on Wednesday, the two people said, Mr. Trump’s lawyers also asked the appeals court to find their client, as the former president, immune from prosecution. Judge Mercan rejected that argument.
Trump’s so-called Article 78 action — a special type of appeal that takes the form of a lawsuit and is used to challenge government agencies and New York state judges — could be heard by a judge. Court of Appeals judge as soon as Wednesday.
The Manhattan case was brought by the district attorney’s office. This will be the first trial Mr. Trump faces following the four indictments, and the first trial of a former president in the nation.
Other efforts by Mr. Trump this week to delay the case failed.
The former president’s more traditional call for a delay in the trial while the justices consider the defense’s request to move the trial outside of Manhattan, was rejected on Monday.
In a separate Article 78 case against Judge Mercan that day, Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked the appeals court to delay the trial while it considered a request to overturn the gag order the judge had imposed. his set. The order prohibits Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge’s family.
But the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, has argued that the gag order will protect those involved from Mr. Trump’s harsh rhetoric. And an appeals court judge on Tuesday refused to put the case on hold.
Mr. Bragg accused Mr. Trump of falsifying records to hide a sex scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels. This criminal case is one of four facing Mr. Trump, who is once again the presumptive Republican nominee for president, and it may be the only one brought trial before Election Day this year.
