President Trump’s indictment in Georgia on 13 counts — he is accused of being a racketeer, and of heading a “criminal enterprise” that roped in 18 other defendants — presents the 45th president with a formidable set of challenges that are specific to the Peach Tree State. 

Fulton County, from which the jury will be drawn, is a deep-blue district. The state’s bail laws are tough, and appear to encompass the behavior Mr. Trump has practiced on social media. The racketeering charges he faces are more extensive than their federal counterparts and feature fewer prosecutorial safeguards.

One obstacle remains, though only in the event that Mr. Trump is judged “guilty” — Georgia’s draconian pardon rules. Should he be convicted of state crimes — even if he manages to remove his case to federal court, and even if he wins back the presidency — the federal pardon power would not avail.       

The Constitution grants the president the “Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States,” one that Hamilton writes in 74 Federalist should be “as little as possible fettered or embarrassed.” The authors of the Federalist columns and the plain language of the Constitution suggest that the  prerogative extends only to federal crimes — those against the “United States.” 

A federal self-pardon could be no guarantee of liberty, either. President Nixon’s Office of Legal Counsel looked into the matter when the 37th president was in the midst of the Watergate scandal. It concluded he would face “the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case.” Such a maneuver has never been tested. 

Regardless, state prosecutions, like those initiated by District Attorney Alvin Bragg at Manhattan and District Attorney Fani Willis at Fulton County, are beyond the reach of the president’s ability to grant clemency. In those cases, the power to pardon devolves to the executive branch of the state governments.

In Georgia, along with five other states, the power to pardon does not rest with the governor. Georgia’s governor is a Republican, Brian Kemp, who testified to a grand jury as part of Ms. Willis’s probe. Instead, it belongs to a five-person State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Its members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. They serve seven-year terms, and are empowered to issue an “order of official forgiveness.”

The board’s website, which conveys its aspiration to be “the nation’s most effective and efficient executive clemency authority,” notes that it “does not expunge, remove or erase the crime” from a convict’s record. But it “may serve as a means for a petitioner to advance in employment or education.” 

Georgia’s parole board took its current form in 1943, when a referendum amended the state constitution to grant it the authority to commute sentences, including death sentences and to remove disabilities imposed by law. There are conditions, though, that narrow the pathway to clemency. 

For the five-person board to commute a sentence, it is obligated to find the sentence “either excessive, illegal, unconstitutional or void,” though a lower bar is demanded in death penalty cases. It is also required to find that early release “would be in the best interests of society and the inmate.” Mr. Trump would have to clear this high bar to obtain early release. “Direct evidence” is required.  

Mr. Trump is likely to find little solace in another Peach Tree State law. Pardons are only available five years after a felon has completed his sentence. In the federal system, on the other hand, a president can issue a pardon even before an indictment is handed up, and at any time during or after trial. A president can pardon fugitives while they are at large.

An analysis by the Brookings Institution finds that the “language in the Georgia Constitution is unequivocal: The Board may only grant pardons ‘after conviction.’” An explanatory note accompanying Georgia’s pardon application explains, “You must have completed all sentence(s) at least five (5) years prior to applying.”

Additionally, to apply for a pardon, a felon must be “free of supervision (custodial or non-custodial) and / or criminal involvement for at least five consecutive years.” Mr. Trump would have a taste of such custodianship at his arraignment, when he will be booked at the notorious Fulton County Jail, which according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is “plagued with overcrowding and detainee deaths and under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.” 

The sheriff of Fulton County notes in a statement that “defendants can turn themselves in at any time. The jail is open 24/7.” He adds that “it is expected that all 19 defendants named in the indictment will be booked at the Rice Street Jail.”