The U.S. Constitution states that in order for someone to be president that must meet three requirements. These requirements are that the potential candidate must be a natural born U.S. citizen, a resident in the United States for at least 14 years, and be at least 35 years of age.
Donald Trump is now both a former U.S. President and a convicted felon, leading many to wonder if he is actually still allowed to run for president. With Trump’s upcoming sentencing, it also means he could be in prison but would he still be allowed run for president?
Obviously, Trump fulfills these requirements. However, he could end up in prison pending his sentencing. If he does, is he allowed to actually run for president?
Can Donald Trump still run for president?
It seems absurd but this scenario actually happened once before. In 1920, Eugene Debs ran for president while behind bars. He was convicted of sedition after a speech in Ohio where he urged Americans to resist the draft for World War I.
Debs was the leader of the Socialist Democrat Party of America and it was actually the fourth time that he was their candidate for president. Needless to explain, he did not win the election.
However, as you may have noticed, he was allowed to run. So, if Trump does find himself in prison then he can still run for president.
The Hill spoke to former White House attorney, Ty Cobb, who explained, “If he (Trump) is sentenced to jail, he wouldn’t serve that sentence without, in all likelihood, after the appeals have run.”
Even if Trump is sentenced to jail then it’s still unlikely that he would be in prison during the election. Thus, a replay of Eugene Debs seems highly improbable to be repeated.