On Tuesday, Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, gave the impression before a Manhattan courtroom of being arrested at an ordinary and unprecedented moment in American democracy.
Trump has continually tested the limits of the country’s legal, judicial and political systems. As he is the first sitting or former president to be impeached, Tuesday’s proceedings raised other unresolved questions, including: What happens if Trump is re-elected and convicted of a crime?while in the White House?
There is no transparent answer, constitutional law experts say. This is uncharted territory. No one knows what would happen to this or other cases opposed to him if Trump were elected in 2024 or what would happen to the charges or the dates of the trials.
“If you have a newly elected president, with indictments and prosecutions of criminals still ongoing or ongoing, unfortunately, I think I’m sure of a constitutional crisis of the highest magnitude, even bigger than Watergate,” said Ken Gormley, president and law professor at Duquesne. University and editor of American Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History. A war is likely to occur at the Supreme Court, Gormley predicts.
Trump was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on 34 counts of falsifying business documents, similar to an alleged secret money scheme before the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty.
There are some pertinent questions about whether Trump can be convicted of a crime as president. First, there is nothing in the Constitution that says an accused user cannot run for president, so Trump’s crusade in 2024 can continue. Secondly, it has long been debated whether a sitting president can be charged with a crime; although there is no definitive answer, the Justice Department has been of the opinion since the Watergate era that it cannot be done. But it is not legally binding. And third, the existing Trump scenario raises even more questions, because this is a state case, not a federal one.
“If it were a federal matter, in a new Trump administration, the new attorney general could seamlessly order the Department of Justice to come forward and prosecute,” Gormley says. “But if it were a state lawsuit, in New York, Georgia or wherever, it would be much less likely to end. The Justice Department has the strength to order a state court to stay a trial.
Prosecutors appear to be pushing for the trial to take place before Election Day: On Tuesday, they said they plan to request a trial in January 2024, the New York Times reports, while Trump’s lawyer said he would prefer next spring. Some experts say the timeline would take into account exclusive circumstances: “Most judges, for example, the judge presiding over the trial of offenders, would avoid a moment that leads to these kinds of questions,” says Aziz Huq, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “So if it was a genuine threat of a conviction and let’s say it was a fraudulent sentence, that a fine, it would be transparent before a decision is made. “
While it’s possible Trump will continue to run for president, whether he can also simply do the homework if convicted and sentenced to serve his sentence is another matter. This can also cause another constitutional problem: “Under the 25th Amendment, the president becomes president if the president is unable to carry out his duties,” says Michael Dorf, a law professor at Cornell University. “It seems to me that he would not be able to carry out his duties in prison. “
Dorf claims there is an officer dismissal law in the U. S. Judicial Code. The U. S. Department of Defense, “which allows a federal officer charged with a state crime to dispose of the state court case and try it through state prosecutors in federal court. “Published through the American Bar Association, the concept is to avoid bias against federal officials through local prosecutors by allowing cases to be heard in a federal forum. That prestige would only come into play if Trump were elected president, so Dorf believes he would. It is “unlikely” as he expects the case to be resolved until then.
Legal experts say maximum therapy could likely end up being a political proceeding rather than a legal one, and some hope some other impeachment trial will be inevitable if Trump is criminally convicted during his tenure. either the jury or the court has the strength to impeach a sitting president,” Gormley said. “It’s only through the accusation. ” (Trump has already been impeached twice and acquitted by the Senate both times. )
The case of Stormy Daniels is not the only investigation into Donald Trump that may also become a challenge if he is re-elected. suggest that Jack Smith is investigating the former president’s movements around the January 6, 2021 attack on the U. S. Capitol. “legal challenges that Trump is likely to face,” Huq said. What is at stake in the case of Georgia is a direct attack on democracy. It is an effort to illegally replace the final results of an election. That’s not an accurate description of what’s at stake in the Stormy Daniels case.
Voters will have a chance to know whether some of those questions will be tested, first in the Republican primary and then, if Trump advances, in the 2024 general election. If Trump becomes president again while a case of thieves is pending that backs him up, Gormley says. , “They don’t give you a card” You get out of jail on the loose “just because you become president. “