Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in New York until after the November election.

The extraordinary request comes as Bailey, a Republican, is embroiled in a highly competitive primary race against Will Scharf, a member of Trump’s legal team who helped secure a sweeping, historic Supreme Court decision earlier this week that Trump enjoys substantial immunity from criminal prosecution.

Bailey’s filing with the Supreme Court targets Trump’s upcoming sentencing after a New York jury in May found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.

Trump’s sentencing, scheduled for July, has already been delayed until at least September as the court assesses the potential consequences of the immunity ruling. Bailey goes further, claiming that sentencing Trump before the election would interfere with his ability to campaign for president.

“Instead of letting presidential candidates campaign on their own merits, radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process,” Bailey said in a statement.

Bailey and Scharf, a former federal prosecutor, have both taken aggressive steps to align themselves with Trump and cast themselves as the best defender of the former president. The race has increasingly centered on Trump as the legal developments surrounding the former president have accelerated in recent weeks.

Scharf declined to comment on Bailey’s filing.

Elad Gross, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, said in a statement that Bailey was “desperate for attention.”

“It’s sad to see our money repeatedly flushed down the toilet while Andrew Bailey can’t manage the basic functions of his office to sue scammers, protect families, and stop wasteful spending,” said Gross, a St. Louis civil rights attorney.

Bailey’s legal filing alleges that the state of New York violated federal laws in its prosecution and conviction of the former president. The 99-page filing includes a summary of the prosecution of Trump and echoes arguments from Republicans who have cast the charges as an attempt by the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden to weaken Trump’s bid for president.

“The American people ought to be able to participate in a presidential election free from New York’s interference,” Bailey wrote in the filing. “Any gag order and sentence should be stayed until after the election.”

Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City-based attorney who previously worked in the attorney general’s office, said the likelihood of the Supreme Court granting Bailey’s motion was close to nothing. He pointed to the fact that Bailey’s office also did not file a motion to expedite the case.

“I would question whether this is a serious effort to litigate the matter or whether this is just a press release styled as a lawsuit,” he said.

Mark Johnson, a Kansas City attorney who has worked on election issues, said in an interview that Bailey and Missouri do not have legal standing to bring the filing.

“The allegations in these pleadings are woefully deficient … to assert jurisdiction before the Supreme Court,” he said. “The same would be true if he had filed them in a trial court. If you don’t have standing you don’t have standing, period.”

Rod Chapel, the president of the Missouri NAACP, said on Wednesday that the filing was “all political.”

“The number one question that is raised in my mind, aside from the moral impact and the misuse of government resources, is how is it that we’re able to justify reaching outside the confines of Missouri’s borders when there’s so much injustice happening within the state?” he said.

Trump’s grip on statewide politics is perhaps most visible in the Republican contest for Missouri attorney general. Very little separates Scharf and Bailey on policy, and both have tried to outmaneuver each other in their support for the former president.

Scharf has defended Trump in court and numerous TV show interviews, while Bailey has used his office to file briefs in support of the former president. In May, Bailey sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice demanding documents related to the prosecutions of Trump.

The Star’s Katie Moore contributed reporting.