What victory in US election means for Donald Trump's court cases

As a convicted felon facing sentencing and a series of outstanding criminal indictments, the power of the presidency is uniquely useful to Donald Trump. 

As things stand, Mr Trump is facing two federal indictments, where he is accused of mishandling classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, and seeking to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. He is also facing a state case in Georgia over alleged interference in that vote.

Now that he has regained the White House, however, he has the tools and influence with which to stymie prosecutors. Indeed, as the president, he oversees the Department of Justice, and can appoint a new attorney-general capable of dismissing the federal cases against him. Democrats may baulk at such a prospect, but with the Republicans also set to seize back control of the Senate, there is little they can do realistically to prevent such an appointment from being ratified.  

The power of the presidency could help Donald Trump to surprass his legal woes. Picture: Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images | Getty

Mr Trump, in theory, could opt for an even more contentious route by seeking to pardon himself. It is an idea he reportedly considered during the final days of his first term in office following the US Capitol riots. And as is so often the case with the property developer-turned-politician, it would set a precedent - no president in US history has ever pardoned himself.

The situation with the state case in Georgia is less clear cut, given it is outwith the executive branch’s jurisdiction, meaning Mr Trump and his allies cannot simply throw it out. Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University, has suggested the 78 year-old could ask the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit in a deferral court to pause the Georgia case, expediting the process by which it reaches the US Supreme Court. 

In that eventuality, Mr Trump could have an opportunity to clear his name, given that only in July, the Supreme Court justices ruled former presidents were immune from criminal prosecution for their official acts. There would be a political backlash if the highest court in the US threw out the case, but given it is politically stacked in the favour of the Republicans, it would not be a surprise. 

The historic mugshot of Donald Trump mugshot after his arrest in Georgia in 2023. | Getty Images

It may be months before a decision is reached in that case. But in the short term, there is another conundrum to reckon with. Having already been found guilty by a Manhattan jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records - a verdict that helped Mr Trump make history as the first former president to be convicted of a felony - the Republican nominee’s sentencing is scheduled to take place later this month. 

Mr Trump’s lawyers have already delayed sentencing twice until after election day; now, the American legal system faces a situation that could not have been anticipated by its founding fathers. The New York court has yet to rule on whether all or part of the conviction should be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, and legal experts have suggested that it would flout the US constitution to impose a prison sentence on a sitting president - or, rather, a candidate who is about to become a sitting president.

What happens next is up in the air. “There’s no playbook here,” Jill Konviser, a retired New York state judge, told CNN. “You can’t look this up in a law book and find an answer to the query because it doesn’t exist.”

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