On Tuesday, just hours before Donald Trump ’s legal team asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and pause his sentencing today in the New York case involving hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, the president-elect and the conservative justice talked on the phone.

The high court’s action clears the way for the president-elect to be sentenced for his criminal conviction in Manhattan on Friday.

Senate Democrats are furious that President-elect Trump has reached out to conservative Justice Samuel Alito amid a push by Trump for the high court to halt his criminal sentencing. Alito has repeatedly angered Democrats over reports that he took expensive trips hosted by wealthy donors and that his wife flew flags signaling her political

The phone call centered on a former law clerk of Justice Alito’s. In the eyes of the Trump team, the clerk still needed to prove his loyalty to the president-elect.