President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing hearing in his hush money criminal case began in a Manhattan courtroom Friday, with the president-elect expected to appear virtually and receive a penalty of no jail time.

With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Judge Juan M. Merchan has indicated he plans a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors aren't opposing it. That would mean no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed, but nothing is final until Friday's proceeding is done.

President-elect Donald Trump turned to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to stop the sentencing, citing the conservative majority’s explosive immunity opinion.

The court’s 5-4 order Thursday clears the way for Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

The Supreme Court refused to block President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal sentencing for covering up hush money paid to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, clearing the way for an unprecedented court proceeding in New York.

The court turned down Trump's last-minute bid to prevent his sentencing, scheduled for Friday in New York state court in Manhattan 10 days before his inauguration for his second term as president.

The Supreme Court’s ruling comes after Judge Juan Merchan and two New York appeals courts ordered the sentencing to take place Friday.

New York’s highest court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s bid to postpone his sentencing in the hush money case, leaving the US Supreme Court as his last chance to delay Friday’s scheduled hearing.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down President-elect Donald Trump’s plea to block a New York judge from sentencing him Friday on his felony conviction in a hush-money case.