Have any of Trump’s felony convictions been overturned or vacated on appeal, and why?
Executive summary
No felony conviction of Donald J. Trump has been overturned or vacated on appeal as of the reporting in these sources; he remains convicted on 34 counts out of the Manhattan hush‑money trial, has been sentenced to an unconditional discharge that imposed no punishment, and is pursuing multiple appellate avenues to erase the verdict [1] [2] [3].
1. Current status: convictions remain on the books despite no punishment
Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May 2024 and, although a New York judge later imposed an unconditional discharge — meaning no jail, fine or probation — the conviction itself remains unless an appellate court overturns it [1] [2] [4].
2. What Trump’s appeals actually ask courts to do
The formal appeals filed by Trump’s Sullivan & Cromwell team seek to vacate the verdict wholesale, arguing that the trial was “fatally marred,” that jurors heard evidence that should have been excluded, that the judge made crucial legal errors, and that the prosecution improperly stacked misdemeanors into felony charges — a line of attack that targets both evidentiary rulings and the legal theory underpinning the convictions [5] [6].
3. The presidential‑immunity strategy and the bid to move the case to federal court
A parallel strategy attempts to shift the New York state prosecution into federal court and then invoke the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling to argue the charges were barred as official‑act conduct; that move, if successful, could provide a path to vacatur by asserting federal immunity for presidential acts [7] [8].
4. What the appeals courts have actually done so far
Appellate rulings so far have not vacated the convictions; federal appeals panels have repeatedly given Trump additional opportunities — ordering lower courts to revisit the question of federal‑court removal and allowing immunity arguments to be heard by a federal judge — but expressly declined to rule that the convictions must be overturned, leaving the record intact while procedural questions play out [9] [10] [7].
5. How independent commentators and legal scholars frame the odds
Legal analysts cited in reporting characterize the immunity and removal strategy as novel and difficult; NPR reports experts view the federal‑court removal gambit as a very broad interpretation of law that is “unlikely to work,” though judges have been open‑minded in questioning both sides given the unprecedented facts of a president convicted of felonies [11]. At the same time, appellate panels have not foreclosed relief, which keeps the outcome uncertain [9].
6. Competing narratives and implicit agendas driving the appeals
Trump’s filings frame the prosecution as politically motivated and the trial as illegitimate, an argument that serves both legal and political aims as he seeks to “scrub away the stain” of felony convictions while campaigning; prosecutors, by contrast, have defended the novel theory they used to elevate falsifying business records into felonies tied to purported efforts to influence the 2016 election, and have been expected to vigorously oppose any vacatur [5] [12]. Readers should note the dual use of appellate filings as courtroom briefs and public messaging tools — an implicit agenda underscored across media coverage [6].
7. Bottom line and limits of current reporting
None of Trump’s felony convictions have been overturned or vacated in the appeals process described by these sources; his team continues to press multiple appellate and procedural routes — including moving the case to federal court and invoking presidential immunity — but appellate decisions to date have only remanded or ordered reconsideration on procedural points rather than erase the convictions themselves [1] [9] [7]. These sources do not report any completed appellate decision that vacates the verdict, and they highlight that the legal path to overturning the convictions is contested and, according to some experts, unlikely [11].