Jailing Donald Trump would create a major constitutional crisis, legal experts say.
Trump is expected to be sentenced in July after he was found guilty on all charges in his secret trial in New York.
Greg Germain, a lawyer and law professor at Syracuse University in New York, told Newsweek that jailing Trump would lead to legal challenges.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been tried in New York on 34 counts of falsifying records of secret invoices made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
On May 30, a jury found him guilty of all 34 counts.
Newsweek emailed Trump’s lawyer for comment Monday.
Germain said Trump could simply be criminal because of the enormous legal complexities involved in criminalizing him.
“I don’t think Trump will be sentenced to prison because that would create a constitutional crisis and a series of habeas corpus appeals and challenges, as well as a mess in the justice formula that would allow dealing with prisoner Trump,” he said. .
Habeas corpus are legal situations that require the arrest of a person.
“The thing would be to grant him conditional release or suspend his sentence pending the appeal. A resolution by Judge Marchán to impose a criminal penalty would seem partial,” Germán said.
Michael Dimino, a law professor at Widener University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said jailing Trump would create a constitutional crisis.
“Incarceration is incredibly unlikely, but it would cause a constitutional crisis. Ironically, the crisis is more complicated when it comes to campaigning than when it comes to post-election incarceration, if Mr. Trump were elected. “Dimino told Newsweek.
“While there is no direct precedent [for] a state to force the imprisonment of U. S. presidents or presidential candidates, it is transparent for states to interfere with federal authority, adding to the president’s ability to enforce his duties,” he said.
“The president represents the entire nation, and one state can’t do it the other 49. The Colorado election case, which the Supreme Court recently decided. . . unanimously implemented this precept to save Colorado from excluding Trump from the election,” Dimino said. .
“It would therefore be unconstitutional not only for a state to imprison a president, but also for a state to impose such restrictions, for example on travel, that would especially spare him the wear and tear of his task as president. “
“The Constitution grants some special prestige to presidential candidates and it is evident that they have no constitutional responsibility. “
“On the other hand, if a state succeeds in harming a candidate by preventing him from campaigning, this can constitute extremely serious interference in the election, undermining the legitimacy of the results. “
“Again, the Colorado case is potentially instructive, even if it’s about disqualification from office rather than campaigning. If we’re concerned about a state influencing a national election, jailing a candidate from a primary party presents those dangers in spades,” Dimino said.
Sean O’Driscoll is a senior crime and court reporter for Ireland-based Newsweek. Its objective is to inform about U. S. legislation. He has covered human rights and extremism extensively. Sean joined Newsweek in 2023 and has worked for The Guardian in the past. The New York Times, BBC, Vice and others from the Middle East. He specialized in human rights issues in the Persian Gulf and conducted a three-month investigation into labor rights violations for the New York Times. In the past it was founded in New York City for 10 years. He is a graduate of Dublin City University and is a qualified New York lawyer and Irish notary.
You can reach Sean by emailing s. odriscoll@newsweek. com. Languages: English and French.
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