Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan expected to rule on immunity in President-elect Donald Trump's hush money conviction today

A Manhattan judge is scheduled to rule Tuesday on whether President-elect Donald Trump's historic felony conviction in his hush money trial will be overturned based on a claim of presidential immunity.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan delayed ruling on the matter last week after a joint request by both the prosecution and the defense.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, citing conversations with Trump’s defense team in light of his victory last Tuesday in the presidential election, requested that Merchan delay his ruling so it could prepare its own legal arguments.

Merchan’s ruling could have dramatic impact to Trump’s historic criminal conviction if the judge were to rule in his favor and overturn the jury’s guilty verdict.

If Merchan rules against Trump and goes forward with his scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in prison. Though some legal experts have speculated that Trump, who has no prior criminal convictions, would likely receive probation.

Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for July, but it was delayed after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts.

Trump was convicted in May of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide $130,000 in hush money to an adult film actress with whom he had a sexual liaison that prosecutors argued Trump was desperate to conceal from the American public as he ran for president in the 2016 election cycle. Trump died the encounter and the hush money payments.

He was the first president or former president to be convicted of a crime. Trump was also the first former president to be held in contempt of court after Merchan did so when Trump violated an order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about court staff or jurors.

Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove have argued that the jury’s verdict should be set aside in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

Separately, last week, Trump announced plans to nominate Blanche as deputy attorney general and Bove as principal associate deputy attorney general.

Legal experts have also cited the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause — a legal principle that dictates federal law eclipses state law — and is understood to dictate that states can’t prosecute a sitting president.

At Trump’s trial earlier this year, prosecutors alleged that Trump plotted a "criminal conspiracy" to win the election about two months after he announced his first run for president in June 2015.

Trump executed a series of "catch and kill" plans by paying off people alleging to have negative stories about Trump in partnership with his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen and tabloid publisher David Pecker, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors argued adult film actress Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000; former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also alleged to have had an affair with Trump, was paid $150,000; Dino Sajudin, a door attendant at Trump Tower who had shopped a false story that Trump fathered a child outside his marriage, was paid $30,000.

Prosecutors have said the payment was illegally recorded in Trump Organization records as legal services part of a retainer agreement, but neither the retainer nor the legal services existed.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.