Former President Donald Trump can still continue to run for president in 2024 after he announced that he’s being federally indicted on charges relating to whether he mishandled classified records, according to legal experts.
After Trump was charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office earlier this year in a separate case, some noted that the U.S. Constitution only requires that a candidate be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and be a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told The Epoch Times in March that Trump could run—and serve—”from prison” if he is convicted and sentenced.
“The only way he can be disqualified is if they can prove that he actually fought in the Civil War for the South. If he fought for the Civil War in the south, he’s out,” Dershowitz told The Epoch Times. “But other than that, if he’s 35 years old, was born in America, and didn’t fight in the Civil War to the south. He’s eligible. And [can] run from prison.”
Dershowitz was referring to the 14th Amendment’s “disqualification clause” that targeted former Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War in the mid-19th century.
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State,” the clause reads, in part, “to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
And another law professor, Richard Hasen, of the University of California-Los Angeles, told CNN on Friday that there is “nothing” that “stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted.”
“Legally speaking, there is nothing to bar a former president from being indicted for a state crime, running for office—even convicted,” said Jessica Levinson, founding director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute, told USA Today. “It really just becomes an issue of, practically, how could you run the country behind bars, if ever came to something like that?”
Former President Donald Trump can still continue to run for president in 2024 after he announced that he’s being federally indicted on charges relating to whether he mishandled classified records, according to legal experts.
After Trump was charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office earlier this year in a separate case, some noted that the U.S. Constitution only requires that a candidate be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and be a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told The Epoch Times in March that Trump could run—and serve—”from prison” if he is convicted and sentenced.
“The only way he can be disqualified is if they can prove that he actually fought in the Civil War for the South. If he fought for the Civil War in the south, he’s out,” Dershowitz told The Epoch Times. “But other than that, if he’s 35 years old, was born in America, and didn’t fight in the Civil War to the south. He’s eligible. And [can] run from prison.”
Dershowitz was referring to the 14th Amendment’s “disqualification clause” that targeted former Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War in the mid-19th century.
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State,” the clause reads, in part, “to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
And another law professor, Richard Hasen, of the University of California-Los Angeles, told CNN on Friday that there is “nothing” that “stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted.”
“Legally speaking, there is nothing to bar a former president from being indicted for a state crime, running for office—even convicted,” said Jessica Levinson, founding director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute, told USA Today. “It really just becomes an issue of, practically, how could you run the country behind bars, if ever came to something like that?”