Legal consultants say that an concept floated by Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida about transferring felony instances out of Washington, D.C., is a flawed idea.

Mr. DeSantis made the weird suggestion within the moments after his rival, former President Donald J. Trump, was indicted on Tuesday for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, writing on Twitter that “we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, D.C. to their home districts.” (Both males name Florida house.)

“It’s going to be hard to square with the Constitution,” mentioned Elizabeth Earle Beske, an affiliate regulation professor at American University in Washington, D.C.

Several students and attorneys famous that the Constitution says that trials “shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed.” The federal rules of criminal procedure additional specify that the proceedings be held within the district of the alleged offense.

Defendants can already search a change of venue for his or her instances underneath the present regulation, the consultants identified, however the bar is excessive: They should show to the courtroom that they can not in any other case receive a good and neutral trial.

Mr. DeSantis, in echoing Mr. Trump’s “swamp” pejorative for Washington, appeared to counsel that his rival couldn’t get a good trial within the nation’s capital. Bryan Griffin, a marketing campaign spokesman for Mr. DeSantis who went to Harvard Law School and beforehand practiced regulation, mentioned in an e-mail that the governor’s concept for transferring instances had advantage.

“Congress can certainly change the rules of criminal procedure to allow defendants to change venues out of D.C. for politically charged cases,” he mentioned.

But that premise was challenged by David B. Rivkin Jr., who served within the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice through the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and practices appellate and constitutional regulation in Washington.

“I think it’s extremely unfortunate to characterize the D.C. jury pool in this fashion,” he mentioned. “Whatever you think about the U.S. government, the notion that means that people who live in the district can be accused of being part of the swamp, to me, is neither fair nor appropriate.”

Arthur Hellman, a regulation professor emeritus on the University of Pittsburgh, recommended that Mr. DeSantis had “not thought that through completely.”

“Criminal venue was so important to the framers,” of the Constitution, he mentioned.