"A sitting President cannot be indicted"

[unblock]

18. imho, it's extremely unlikely to be upheld even by this court.

whether a federal indictment can then *proceed to trial* is the more interesting question.

imho, an indictment, in and of itself, doesn't interfere with presidential duties, so i can't see the legal or constitutional argument for not allowing an indictment.

proceeding to trial, that's a whole different ballgame, because that arguably does take away from the time and attention needed for the president to perform constitutional duties. that argument has been largely undercut by the jones v. clinton case, in which a *civil* case against a sitting president was allowed to proceed, but i suppose there may be some arguments as to why a criminal case puts a different burden on the defendant and that might be enough to make the difference.

so i think, in the end, a sitting president could be indicted, but might be able to delay any trial until out of office.