Justice Juan M. Merchan has tried to treat Donald J. Trump like the hundreds of other defendants whose fates he has decided. But his decision could alter American history.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied former President Donald Trump's second and last ditch bid to transfer his New York hush money case to federal court. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York found that there was no good cause to grant Trump’s lawyers permission to even file a motion.