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Former President Donald Trump has been charged with dozens of other felonies across three additional cases: two federal and one in Georgia.
Former President Donald Trump boards his plane in Miami, June 13, 2023. Doug Mills/The New York Times
By Maggie Astor, New York Times Service
May 31, 2024
Not since Eugene V. Debs campaigned from a prison cell more than a century ago has the United States experienced what is now happening: a prominent candidate with felony convictions running for president. And never before has that candidate been someone with a real chance of winning.
A New York City jury convicted former President Donald Trump on Thursday of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn actor. He has been charged with dozens of other felonies across three additional cases: two federal and one in Georgia.
For now, he faces no formal campaign restrictions, and he remains highly competitive in polls. But his sentencing on the New York convictions is approaching July 11, the other cases are still looming, and the Constitution and U.S. law have clear answers for only some of the questions that have arisen and may still arise.
Others could bring the country into truly uncharted territory, with huge decisions resting in the hands of federal judges.
Here is what we know and what we don’t know.
Can Trump still run after his conviction?
This is the simplest question of the bunch. The answer is yes.
The Constitution sets very few eligibility requirements for presidents. They must be at least 35 years old, be “natural born” citizens and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
There are no limitations based on character or criminal record. While some states prohibit felons from running for state and local office, these laws do not apply to federal offices.
The Republican and Democratic parties have guaranteed spots on general-election ballots in every state, and the parties tell election officials whose name to put in their spot. States could, in theory, try to keep Trump off the ballot by passing legislation requiring a clean criminal record, but this would be on legally shaky ground.
“We let states set the time, place and manner” of elections, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who specializes in election law, “but I think the best reading of our Constitution is you don’t let the state add new substantive requirements.”
While that view is not universal among legal experts, it prevailed in court in 2019, after California passed a law requiring candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on primary ballots. A federal district judge blocked the law from taking effect, saying it was most likely unconstitutional. The California Supreme Court also unanimously blocked it as a violation of the state’s constitution,