In an unprecedented day in American politics, Donald Trump has become the first former or serving US president to be convicted of a crime.
Most experts agree that the 34 crimes for which Trump was convicted in a Manhattan court on Thursday are unlikely to carry a prison sentence.
He will appeal against it and if the decision still remains intact then there is a high possibility of him being fined etc.
But in the worst-case scenario, i.e. a prison sentence, Trump could still remain a candidate and potentially contest the US presidential election from prison.
How can a convicted person contest the presidential election?
The legal eligibility rules for presidential candidacy have not changed since George Washington became the first president of the United States in 1789.
Ivan Morgan, a former professor of American history at University College London, told the BBC, “The eligibility criteria for candidacy are that they should be born in America and be of a certain age (above 35 years). That is why there was a debate at that time whether Obama was really an American citizen or not.”
After the Civil War, a rule of staying in America for 14 years was also implemented so that people who were involved in the rebellion against America could be stopped.
However, the Supreme Court has ruled out any possibility of using this rule against Donald Trump.
But there is no bar on a convicted person from running for the White House.
“America was born out of revolution, and it was likely that anyone who had been imprisoned for activities against the monarchy would be disqualified from running for president,” says Professor Morgan.
None of the founding leaders of the 1787 convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution were ever imprisoned by the British, although some were very close to doing so.
He says, “If the revolution had not succeeded, they would have been accused of rebellion against the monarchy and would have been criminals.”
This is why the people who wrote the Constitution did not put many restrictions on who could become President, and because of this policy, three candidates campaigned for the presidential election from jail.
Professor Morgan says, “The most important candidate to run for president while in prison in 1920 was Eugene Debs.”
Debs was first imprisoned in 1894 when, as a trade union leader, he led a strike against a train company and was convicted of stopping a train.
The military broke up the strike, and Debs was jailed for six months. This experience greatly influenced his political views.
Professor Morgan says, “In the early 20th century he became a prominent member of the Socialist Party of America. He became a presidential candidate in 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920.”
Debs also contested the election in 1900 on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party.
“1912 was a four-cornered contest between Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Republican William Howard Taft, the Progressive candidate, and former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt.”
Debs fought the election very strongly and secured nearly 1 million votes, or 6% of the total votes, which was the highest number of votes received by a Socialist Party candidate in America.
“But World War I created a dilemma for American voters whether to support it on patriotic grounds or oppose it as a capitalist war?”
Debs was a harsh critic of the war and continually discouraged Americans from joining it.
Professor Morgan says, “The war was almost over but in 1918 he called on the American public to oppose the war draft.”
He was convicted of treason and sent to jail in April 1919. He contested the elections the following year while in jail.
However, his health deteriorated in jail and he died in 1926.
Lyndon LaRouche ran for president from prison for different reasons. His name appeared on the ballot in every election from 1976 to 2008, sometimes as a Democrat or another party candidate.
Larush’s political roots were left-wing in the 1940s, but by the 1970s she had moved towards the right.
Based on his peculiar world view, Larush built a political movement with low taxes and populist promises, which never exceeded 2000 people.
He was a strong critic of spying on his own citizens.
Prof. Morgan says that surprisingly, in 1986, candidates supported by Larush won the Democratic nomination for key roles in the state of Illinois. Larush also raised a lot of funds.
According to Prof. Morgan, “We will never know how much it was, but some people estimate it was $200 million. With this fund, they spent a lot in local, state and congressional elections but achieved very little success.”
In 1989 he was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Then came the 1992 elections, Larush wanted to be a part of it and his name even appeared on the ballot in some states and he got 0.1% of the total votes or 27000 votes.
Later his sentence was reduced and he was released from jail in 1994. After this, he also participated in the presidential elections of 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.
Despite his fund-raising ability and consistency in elections, he failed to make much of an impact.
Lyndon LaRouche died in 2019.
Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in 1830, a denomination centered on Jesus Christ that was distinct from Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox churches.
He also introduced the practice of polygamy for close associates within his movement.
Professor Morgan says, “It was seen as a threat to the basic values of America. Polygamy was considered the worst crime in the world and Smith allegedly had 20 wives.”
Smith was originally from Massachusetts, but his search for a safer place for his followers brought him to Illinois.
In the 1940s, Mormons established their own town on the banks of the Mississippi, hoping to live in peace and spirituality.
Smith was elected mayor and formed a Mormon militia.
But he had become quite notorious due to his practice of polygamy, and hence he had many opponents.
Smith ordered his militia to destroy the printing press of a newspaper that was writing against him. This ultimately led to his imprisonment.
He was the Reform Party candidate in the 1844 election.
The party promoted polygamy and promoted Smith’s ideas that every human being is a god, thus gaining many enemies because of his views.
A mob attacked him outside his prison, and he was shot dead in the building where he was hiding.
But in the 1844 elections the Reform Party did not field any alternative candidate.
So there have been three other presidential candidates who have run while in prison, and the fourth could be Joseph Maldonado-Passage, who has announced he will run in the November election.
In 2020, Joseph, star of the Netflix documentary ‘Tiger King’ and known as Joe Exotic, expressed his desire to contest the election as a Democrat.
He is serving a 20-year prison sentence for animal cruelty and conspiring to murder a rival zoo owner.
Now whether Trump goes to jail or not, this will not make his situation very unique, but he may be the most important person to contest the presidential election from jail.
Even if he is not jailed, he will be, in the words of BBC North America correspondent John Sudworth, a punishment candidate for half of a polarised nation.
