No law stops felons from being president

It’s a question circling the New York courthouse where Donald Trump is being tried in the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president: If he loses, can he still become president again? ● According to U.S. legal experts, yes. The presumed GOP presidential nominee can appear on the ballot even if he is found guilty in the current criminal hush money trial in New York – or the other criminal cases still pending. ● The New York trial was off Friday for Trump to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in Florida.

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USA TODAY spoke with experts including University of Colorado law professors Doug Spencer and Paul Campos and University of Denver law professor Martin Katz. All three concluded that the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law do not prohibit a convicted criminal from becoming president.

Katz explained that the U.S. Constitution sets out only a brief list of qualifications to become president: The person must be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

“So a person can meet the qualifications on the Constitutional list even if they are a convicted felon. And the Constitutional list tends to be seen as exclusive,” Katz said in an email to USA TODAY.

Katz said that if someone meets the qualifications on the Constitutional list, it is not likely that states could impose additional requirements to get on the ballot for president, such as not having a felony conviction, because the election is at a federal level.

The 1994 Supreme Court case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton determined that states cannot impose additional restrictions, such as term limits, on their representatives in the federal government beyond those provided by the Constitution.

The justices underlined that in their March decision restoring Trump to the Colorado primary ballot, as USA TODAY previously reported. “We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” five of the justices wrote. “But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency.”

Campos and Spencer also mentioned a specific case during World War I, in which Eugene Debs famously ran for president from his cell.

A separate question is how the trial will affect voters. While, yes, there are no laws keeping someone convicted of a crime from appearing on the 2024 general election ballot, Spencer asked, “Do you really want a felon running your country?”

Whether or not Trump is convicted in his current trial, he is still the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. And if the Republican National Convention chooses him, voters will see his name on their Nov. 4 election ballots.

“If he’s found guilty, voters in the country should take that into account when they make their vote. Voters should choose law-abiding citizens to run the country,” Spencer opined.