With the presidential election less than five weeks away, the United States is facing something that is unprecedented in its 248-year history: the possibility of electing a candidate who is facing both state and federal criminal charges. Justice Juan Merchan, after the election, will sentence GOP nominee Donald Trump on 34 criminal counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.’s hush money/falsified business records case. And special counsel Jack Smith, in a legal brief unsealed by Judge Tanya Chutkan in early October, lays out a detailed, in-depth, 165-page argument for proceeding wit…