The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for Donald Trump to be sentenced for the president-elect's conviction on criminal charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, with two conservative justices joining the three liberal members in 5-4 vote denying his bid to halt the proceedings.

The decision means that a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday can go ahead as planned. The president-elect had asked the high court to intervene.

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.