My Democratic zealot of a girlfriend believes she has found a loophole to making Bill Clinton presedint again. She believes that if Hilary Clinton runs for president and than appoints Bill Clinton as her running mate if she wins the election and Bill becomes vice president that if Hilary has a “unfortunate happening” Bill will become president once again. I don’t think this would ever happen but in the unlikely event that it was planned, would it be legal or even possible?
I suggest searching the archives for this question. And then be prepared to read and read and read and read and read and read and read.
This question shows up on the board every few months, but more frequently around elections.
The next definitive answer to this question will be the first.
From the 12th amendment to the Constitution:
Having served two full terms, Bill Clinton is not eligible to be a vice-presidential candidate.
See US Constitution, amendment 12:
“…But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
(On preview I see the question has been answered, but what the hey…)
Amen, BobT. Earlier threads that have addressed (and pretty much exhausted) this topic:
American President and terms in office
[QUOTE=BobT]
I suggest searching the archives for this question. And then be prepared to read and read and read and read and read and read and read.QUOTE] He’s a guest, he can’t search the archives.
I request a cite that Bill Clinton was ever presedint.
[QUOTE=Otto]
My apologies for not realizing that. I reacted a bit hastily since I’ve been involved in some rather heated debates on this topic where people got nasty toward me for no good reason.
But I should have provided links to the threads instead of just complaining.
Surprisingly, nobody ever bothers considering the real legal way that Bill Clinton could become President again. A new constitutional amendment could repeal the 22nd Amendment and eliminate the two-term limit. But I guess this isn’t “conspiracy” enough.
But Bill Clinton isn’t inelligible to the office of President, he’s only inelligible to be elected President. (22nd Amendment) I would think inelligible to the office of President would refer to someone who hadn’t been born a U.S. citizen, etc.
However, I am not a scholar of Consitutional law.
You’re right. I didn’t think about it that way. From your link (bolding mine):
That says nothing about him being elected to the office of Vice President, and nothing about him getting to be president through a non-elected way (i.e., take over from a president).
At any rate, even if Clinton couldn’t become VP, couldn’t he still achieve the presidency by becoming Speaker of the House and having both the Prez and VP resign? I mean, it’s not going to happen, but neither is the scenario thegreat59 proposed. If Hillary becomes President, I think we can safely assume she’s not about to hand it over to Bill. (Even if she wanted him to be running things again, she could just let him make the decisions and avoid the controversy of trying to formally hand over power to him.)
Clinton vs Bush in '08! I’d pay money to watch that.
As a perusal of the linked threads will show, the great, there’s something of a difference of opinion on this topic. FatBaldGuy and postcards’ certainty to the contrary notwithstanding, tim314 presents the argument for. It’s an open question.
–Cliffy
Do you mean Hillary vs Jeb, Bill vs Jeb, Bill vs W, or Hillary vs W?
(Is it just me, or is it time for some new presidential families?)
sigh :rolleyes:
Nope. The statutory rules for presidential succession don’t trump the eligibility rules set out in the Constitution. See: United States Code, Title 3, Section 19, Sub-section (e)
So for example, Henry Kissinger and Madelaine Allbright were not in the line of succession when they were Secretary of State, because they were both naturalised Americans, not native-born, as required by Article II, s. 1 of the U.S. Constitution. If Bill is not “eligibile to the office of President” because of the two-term limit, then he can’t get there by becoming Speaker.
Bill vs W.
Yes! Time to bring back the Roosevelts.
CynicalGabe: re-read that sentence very carefully.
Bill as far as I can tell is still eligible for the office but he is not eligble to be elected to that office.