Noah Feldman, Columnist

With Trump's Federal Prosecution, Timing Is Everything

Much hinges on whether the former president, and current Republican front-runner, is tried and convicted before or after his election.

June 9, 2023 at 1:00 PM UTC

By Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Facing new legal woes.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on federal charges, catapulting the US into new legal and constitutional territory. What this means for democracy and for the 2024 presidential race I’ll leave for others to explore. Legally, the two key issues for Trump’s future are, obviously, whether Trump is convicted and whether he wins the presidency. Less obviously, the timing matters a lot.

No doubt his lawyers will aim to delay the trial as long as possible. But it is almost certain that Trump will now be tried criminally in the midst of his presidential run. He will make bail, so he won’t be in jail. And he can keep running regardless of the charges against him. In fact, he can keep running even if he is convicted and sitting in a jail cell — Eugene V. Debs did that in 1920.