So, in this hypothetical, I’m interested in knowing the outcome of two contemporaneous events (one REALLY good and one unthinkable).* Let’s say the Creator of the Universe smiles upon our nation, and TFG is convicted in a State Court of a crime that puts him in state prison for, say ten years. While in prison, he runs for President, and WINS.
Does the state in which he’s imprisoned HAVE to let him out, or can they require that he serve his entire prison sentence?
*ETA: For clarity, the really good one is his conviction and imprisonment.
He can’t pardon himself for state crimes, so I see nothing that would require him to be freed.
I think it would be pretty easy to invoke the 25th Amendment though. Being stuck in prison and unable to go anywhere, and being unavailable outside of very limited hours, would mean “the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. At that point, whoever ran as VP would take office.
It would be extremely unlikely that he’d be able to run. I can’t see any party supporting a candidate that couldn’t actually perform the duties. What would be more likely is for them to seek his official endorsement of someone (through some kind of slimy deal) and hope to get MAGA votes that way.
But yes, assuming they went through with it, my assumption is that it would be a “wink wink” election, where whoever was picked as his running mate is the person truly running.
The article is totally correct about running and winning elections while incarcerated. Many politicians have done so, probably most famously James Curley.
The article also correctly stops short of predicting what would happen if the future felon won. Everything then becomes a hypothetical. Get wild and crazy.
If they had the votes, Democrats could pass a law, and I’m sure Biden would sign it, that disallowed felons from holding federal office. Trump gets convicted of a felony and it’s now a moot point.
I’m pretty sure that would take a constitutional amendment.
I’m reminded of some insane triads/gangs/mafias that let their head honcho continue to run the crime business from prison.
Bobby Sands, an imprisoned member of the IRA, was elected to the British parliament in 1981. He died due to his hunger strike a month later. Subsequently the government passed a law to prevent anyone serving time being nominated.