Would the $1 Donald Trump commemorative coin be legal?

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The Treasury Department announced plans to mint new $1 coins bearing President Donald Trump’s image, including his iconic fist-raised posture after surviving a shooting incident during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. This is part of their effort to commemorate America’s 250th birthday.

However, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco confirmed that “a living person may not appear on U.S. currency.” The law states: “No coin issued may bear the image of a living former or current President,” as per 31 U.S. Code 5112.

Treasury Department officials did not respond to questions about whether there are any special exceptions for commemorative coins, including this one proposed by Trump.

During Trump’s first term, Congress passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, allowing the Department of the Treasury to issue commemorative coins beginning January 1, 2026, with up to five different designs emblematic of the U.S. semiquincentennial.

In a unique start to his ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration on September 30, U.S. District Court Judge William Young included a scanned handwritten note sent to his office. The note read: “Trump has pardons and tanks – what do you have?” At the top of Young’s opinion in AAUP v. Rubio, which ruled that Trump’s effort to deport foreign-born student protesters was unconstitutional.

October 8, 2025

The law mandates that some coins may honor Native Americans and innovators, and one of the 25 cent coins must honor a woman. Commemorative coins honoring Harriet Tubman’s 200th birthday were issued in 2024.