Which of Donald Trump's legal cases could affect his eligibility to run for office in 2026?
Executive summary
Multiple sources show most criminal prosecutions that once threatened Donald Trump were dropped, dismissed, or put aside after he returned to the White House; the Georgia racketeering case was dismissed on Nov. 26, 2025 [1] [2]. Available sources do not list any remaining criminal convictions or active state felony cases that would bar him from running in 2026; reporting instead focuses on litigation over his administration’s policies and civil suits [3] [4].
1. Which legal cases once threatened Trump’s eligibility — and which have ended
The high-profile criminal matters that dominated headlines in 2024 and early 2025 — state election-interference prosecutions in Georgia and several federal matters brought by a special counsel — were either dismissed, dropped, or set aside after Trump regained the presidency. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ordered the Georgia racketeering case dismissed after state prosecutor Pete Skandalakis moved to drop remaining charges on Nov. 26, 2025 [1] [2]. Federal special-counsel matters were also dropped when the Department of Justice advised it would not indict a sitting president, according to The Guardian’s summary of reporting [2]. These developments removed the clearest paths by which criminal convictions might have carried legal or political consequences for 2026 ballot eligibility [1] [2].
2. What legally disqualifies someone from the presidency — and what the sources say
The Constitution sets narrow qualifications for president (age, natural-born citizen, residency) and does not automatically bar convicted felons from running; the materials provided do not cite any constitutional or statutory provision that would expressly prevent a convicted person from appearing on ballots in 2026 (available sources do not mention a statute barring convicted felons from presidential candidacy). Reporting instead centers on whether prosecutions themselves could stop campaigns — a political and logistical question — rather than an automatic legal disqualification (available sources do not mention statutory disqualification).
3. Criminal cases vs. political reality: why dismissals matter
When prosecutors dismiss or drop charges, the immediate legal barrier to running evaporates. Reuters and other trackers cited in the reporting highlight that multiple criminal matters “have either been dropped, resolved or put aside” since Trump’s return to the White House, leaving few ongoing criminal threats that could be adjudicated in time to affect a 2026 campaign [3] [1]. The Georgia dismissal was explicitly framed by the prosecutor as serving “the interests of justice and promoting judicial finality,” a legal rationale with clear political consequence: it ended the last unresolved criminal case that could plausibly have derailed a bid [1].
4. Civil litigation and administrative cases: lots of activity, little direct ballot impact
Civil suits and federal litigation over administration policies remain numerous. Trackers at Lawfare and Just Security show the administration faced scores of lawsuits challenging executive actions — over 186 legal actions were reported against the administration in 2025 — but these typically concern policy and injunctions, not criminal penalties that would prevent candidacy [4] [5]. Such litigation can shape governance and public perception, but the sources do not connect those suits to legal ineligibility for 2026 [4] [5].
5. What’s left open — and where reporting diverges
Coverage indicates fewer legal pathways to remove Trump from the 2026 ballot, but disagreements persist about broader institutional risk: some outlets emphasize the practical end of criminal jeopardy after dismissals [1] [2], while trackers and legal commentators continue to monitor executive-branch litigation and potential new actions [4] [5]. Available sources do not report any new indictments or convictions after the November 2025 Georgia dismissal; they do, however, document active, consequential lawsuits over policy that could shape governance but not candidacy [3] [4].
6. Bottom line for 2026 — legal bar is gone; political and reputational implications remain
Based on the provided reporting, criminal cases that once posed the clearest legal threat to Trump’s ability to run have been dismissed or dropped, removing a direct legal obstacle to a 2026 candidacy [1] [2]. The administration still faces extensive civil and administrative litigation challenging policies and orders, which may influence voters, courts, and the functioning of government but — in the sources supplied — do not constitute legal disqualification from the ballot [4] [5].