This is absolutely right; I completely forgot about that two-year limitation. So Clinton could not be elected VP in 2012, but conceivably he could be confirmed to fill a vacancy in the office of VP with less than two years remaining in an Obama second term.
No, the additional two-year limitation that I overlooked would act as a cumulative limit, I think.
Yes, it’s cumulative, but it only bars Clinton from being elected to the presidency, not serving. The only open question is if he’s eligible to being elected to the Vice Presidency. I don’t think there’s any doubt that were Clinton elected to be Speaker of the House, and both the President and Vice President were to be killed or otherwise unable serve, that Clinton would become president again [li].[/li]
[*] For the purposes of this discussion, anyway. I’ve heard it suggested this line-of-succession is itself unconstitutional.
Right. His team came up with new lies and dirty tricks to get elected in 2004.
Come on, let’s not turn this into a partisan fist-fight. That’s really not interesting to the rest of us.
Tom, that seems like a backwards way of looking at it. The amendment contemplates someone serving as President and then subsequently being elected (see “shall be” in the text). Clinton has already been elected twice, so we all agree that he can’t be elected President again. However, nothing in the amendment prevents him from serving as President for any period of time.
If Lyndon Johnson had chosen to run in 1968, and had been elected, he would have ended up serving well over 2 terms as president. Of course, he did not choose to run, but I have never heard any suggestion that there would have been any constitutional problem with his doing so, had he wanted to, or with his serving another term. Surely, in fact, his announcement that he would not run came as a considerable surprise at the time. It should not have been a surprise (or even necessary to announce) if his serving another term would have been unconstitutional.
Kennedy was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1961 and died on Nov. 22, 1963; Johnson had served less than two years of his predecessor’s unexpired term, and was elected as President in his own right in 1964. Under the terms of the 22nd Amendment, he was unquestionably constitutionally eligible to run for another full term in 1968.
Or, alternatively, Clinton could be elected VP in 2012, but if the President he were serving under died on, say, Feb. 1, 2013, Clinton would be required to resign as President on Feb. 1, 2015 due to the two-terms-plus-two-years limit. (Just for the sake of argument.)
As long as we’re exploring scenarios, how about Clinton being elected to the House, then becoming Speaker, then having the President and Vice President die/resign/be impeached before they have a chance to name their successors?
Or for that matter, GWB?
This is covered under succession laws very clearly. In your scenario, Speaker Clinton would be skipped and the next person in line would be POTUS.
Are you saying that Bush should be able to run for President again since he’s only been elected once?
:eek:
The same thing would happen, by the way, if the Speaker was ineligible for any reason like not being a citizen at birth.
No, there is nothing in the 22nd Amendment that would require this. If Clinton could be elected VP in 2012 (open question), and then succeeded to the presidency, he would be able to finish that term.
Why do you believe this is true?
Please avoid political jabs in General Questions.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
When Madeline Albright was Sec of State it was clearly mentioned that she was not in the line of succession because she was a naturalized citizen.
You are reallyinto this, aren’t you?
There’s no “arguably” about it. Bush won the election. Deal with it.
[Moderator Instruction]
Let’s drop discussion of the validity of the 2000 election here (and 2004 as well). This goes for everyone.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
That’s because being a natural-born citizen is a requirement to be President. The question is whether the 22nd amendment establishes additional criteria to be president, or to be elected President.
Likewise Elaine Chao, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor, who was born in Taiwan but naturalized after coming to the U.S. with her family at age eight.
Right, except that isn’t a question. The 22nd amendment clearly says ‘elected.’
