Not since Eugene V. Debs campaigned from a jail cell greater than a century in the past has the United States skilled what may now occur: a distinguished candidate with a felony conviction working for president. And by no means earlier than has that candidate been somebody with an actual probability of profitable.

Former President Donald J. Trump faces no marketing campaign restrictions. Though he has been charged with dozens of felonies throughout two circumstances, one federal and one in New York, verdicts are a great distance off. And there are lots of uncertainties, together with whether or not the proceedings will hinder Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign in sensible methods or start to harm him within the polls in a means they haven’t to date.

But if he’s convicted on any of the felony counts, issues get extra sophisticated — and the Constitution and American regulation have clear solutions for under a number of the questions that might come up.

Others would carry the nation into actually uncharted territory, with enormous choices resting within the palms of federal judges.

Here is what we all know, and what we don’t know.

Can Trump run if he’s convicted?

This is the only query of the bunch. The reply is sure.

The Constitution units very few eligibility requirements for presidents. They have to be no less than 35 years previous, be “natural born” citizens and have lived within the United States for no less than 14 years.

There aren’t any limitations primarily based on character or prison document. (While some states prohibit felons from working for state and native workplace, these legal guidelines don’t apply to federal workplaces.)

Would his marketing campaign be restricted?

To supply an apparent understatement, it could be logistically troublesome to run for president from jail. No major-party candidate has ever performed it. Mr. Debs ran for the Socialist Party in 1920 and obtained about 3 % of the vote.

But Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign workers might deal with fund-raising and different marketing campaign actions in his absence, and it is vitally unlikely that Mr. Trump may very well be disqualified from showing on ballots.

The Republican and Democratic Parties have guaranteed spots on general-election ballots in each state, and the events inform election officers whose title to place of their spot. States might, in concept, attempt to preserve Mr. Trump off the poll by passing laws requiring a clear prison document, however this might be on legally shaky floor.

“We let states set the time, place and manner” of elections, mentioned Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who makes a speciality of election regulation, “but I think the best reading of our Constitution is you don’t let the state add new substantive requirements.”

While that view shouldn’t be common amongst authorized consultants, it received in courtroom in 2019, when California tried to require candidates to launch their tax returns with a purpose to seem on main ballots. A federal district decide blocked the rule, saying it was probably unconstitutional. The California Supreme Court also unanimously blocked it as a violation of the state structure, and the case by no means reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Could he vote?

Probably not.

Mr. Trump is registered to vote in Florida, and he can be disenfranchised there if convicted of a felony.

Most felons in Florida regain voting rights after finishing their full sentence, together with parole or probation, and paying all fines and charges. But it’s extremely unlikely that Mr. Trump, if convicted, would have time to finish his sentence earlier than Election Day.

Since Mr. Trump additionally has a residence in New York, he might swap his voter registration there to make the most of its extra permissive strategy: Felons in New York can vote whereas on parole or probation. But, as in Florida and virtually each different state, they’re nonetheless disenfranchised whereas in jail.

So if Mr. Trump is imprisoned, he might be within the extraordinary place of being deemed match to be voted for, however unfit to vote.

What occurs if he’s elected from jail?

No one is aware of.

“We’re so far removed from anything that’s ever happened,” mentioned Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional regulation professional on the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s just guessing.”

Legally, Mr. Trump would remain eligible to be president even when he have been imprisoned. The Constitution says nothing on the contrary. “I don’t think that the framers ever thought we were going to be in this situation,” Professor Levinson mentioned.

In observe, the election of an incarcerated president would create a authorized disaster that might virtually actually should be resolved by the courts.

In concept, Mr. Trump may very well be stripped of his authority below the twenty fifth Amendment, which offers a course of to switch authority to the vp if the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” But that might require the vp and a majority of the cupboard to declare Mr. Trump unable to meet his duties, a distant prospect on condition that these can be loyalists appointed by Mr. Trump himself.

More seemingly, Mr. Trump might sue to be launched on the premise that his imprisonment was stopping him from fulfilling his constitutional obligations as president. Such a case would most likely deal with the separation of powers, with Mr. Trump’s attorneys arguing that conserving a duly elected president in jail can be an infringement by the judicial department on the operations of the chief department.

He might additionally attempt to pardon himself — or to commute his sentence, leaving his conviction in place however ending his imprisonment. Either motion can be a unprecedented assertion of presidential energy, and the Supreme Court can be the ultimate arbiter of whether or not a “self pardon” was constitutional.

Or President Biden, on his means out the door, might pardon Mr. Trump on the premise that “the people have spoken and I need to pardon him so he can govern,” Professor Chemerinsky mentioned.

What if he’s elected with a case nonetheless in progress?

Again, nobody is aware of. But a possible end result can be {that a} Trump-appointed lawyer common would withdraw the costs and finish the case.

The Justice Department doesn’t indict sitting presidents, a coverage outlined in a 1973 memo, in the course of the Nixon period. It has by no means had purpose to develop a coverage on what to do with an incoming president who has already been indicted. But the rationale for not indicting sitting presidents — that it could intrude with their means to carry out their duties — applies simply as properly on this hypothetical situation.

“The reasons why we wouldn’t want to indict a sitting president are the reasons we wouldn’t want to prosecute a sitting president,” mentioned Professor Chemerinsky, who has disagreed with the division’s reasoning. “My guess is, if the Trump prosecution were still ongoing in some way and Trump were elected, the Justice Department — which would be the Trump Justice Department — would say, ‘We’re following the 1973 memo.’”

Like a lot else right here, this might be legally untested, and it’s unattainable to say what the Supreme Court would do if the query reached it.

In its Clinton v. Jones ruling in 1997, the courtroom allowed a lawsuit towards President Bill Clinton to proceed. But that case was civil, not prison, and it was filed by a personal citizen, not by the federal government itself.

Charlie Savage contributed reporting.