Who will be the next President of the United States of America? That’s a coin toss. But both the Republican and Democratic parties are aggressively preparing and gearing up for it.
The United States will hold its 2024 presidential election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. There’s more than a year left before the elections, but many developments are already taking place.
For one, ex-president Donald Trump is planning on campaigning for another term. The current President, Joe Biden, will also go on his re-election campaign. However, there’s a question that everyone is asking in hushed whispers- can Trump, who has been wading into uncountable legal troubles, still contest the elections if he is a convicted felon?
Yes, a convicted felon can run for the position of the President of the United States. The US Constitution doesn’t bar any convicted individual from running for the highest office in the country. A candidate needs to fulfill only three criteria to run for President. They need to be a natural-born US citizen, at least 35 years old, and US residents for at least 14 years.
Can a Convicted Felon Run for President?
Former President of the United States, Donald Trump, faces multiple legal charges. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 federal felony counts for mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Out of these, 31 records were about national defense.
These were discovered at his Mar-a-Lago property and included intelligence briefings about foreign countries and their military capabilities between 2018 to 2020. Twenty-one records were marked as Top Secret, and nine were marked as Secret.
In total, he faces 3 indictments and 78 felony charges. This is the first time any former president is facing federal charges. He has also been found liable in the E. Jean Carroll civil case, where the jury found that he did sexually abuse her.
Trump has been ordered to pay her about $5 million. This has sparked an interesting question- if Donald Trump gets convicted, will he still be able to run for the presidential elections in 2024?
Legally, yes. The constitution doesn’t bar anyone convicted or charged from taking or even seeking office. The same goes for a person who has been found liable in a civil case. The US Constitution has just three rules for running for President. One, the person must be a US natural-born citizen.
Two, the person must be a US resident for 14 years at least. Third, the individual must be 35 years or older. Also, there is a precedence for candidates with criminal convictions running for the post of President behind bars.
The most famous one is Eugene Debs. In 1920, Socialist Party’s Eugene Debs ran for the post of President while serving a sentence behind bars at the Atlanta Federal Prison. Debs was convicted due to an anti-war speech that violated the Espionage Act. He received over 1 million votes, 3% of the national votes then. Nothing would have barred him from taking office if he had won the election.
Also, Debs isn’t the only one. Between 1976 and 2004, Lyndon LaRouche, who spouted conspiracies about the economic apocalypse, ran for President.
In 1988 he was convicted of mail and tax fraud. But he continued his 1992 campaign from prison. However, this doesn’t mean that the road to campaigning is smooth.
If imposed by the judge, travel restrictions can apply to the presidential campaign. Also, potential voters being unable to see their candidate in person can hurt the campaign. However, as mentioned before, there aren’t any constitutional obstacles. Many also think being charged could rally Donald Trump’s Republican voter base to get him into office.
So if Donald Trump is convicted and incarcerated, he can still campaign and win the next election. If he wins, he can pardon himself while in office.
What are your thoughts about the constitutional leniency offered to convicted and incarcerated individuals regarding running for office? Should it be amended? Can it be amended?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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