When George Bush was President, could he have named G.W. Bush to be his Vice President? Or, is this not legal? - Jinx
The only way Bush could have named a new vice president while he was President would have been if Quayle died or resigned. Had that happened, yes, Bush could have nominated W for Vice President. He would have had to be confirmed by Congress.
There is no constitutional prohibition that would have stopped G.H.W. Bush from naming his son G.W. Bush as his running mate, or nominating him as Vice President if Dan Quayle had vacated the office. The Federal anti-nepotism statutes apply only to choosing appointees, not to choosing constitutional officers. More to the point, technically a Vice President is not chosen by the President, but by the Electoral College in the case of an election or by Presidential nomination and Congressional confirmation in the case of filling a vacancy.
The 12th amendment does require that each elector “shall . . . vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” If G.H.W. Bush and G.W. Bush had lived in the same state, then that state’s electors could not have voted for them both; but that obstacle would result from their common residence rather than from their familial relationship, and could have been overcome by one of them simply establishing residence in a different state (as Dick Cheney did when he established residence in Wyoming when both G.W. Bush and he had been living in Texas).
While there would have been no legal bar to G.H.W. Bush running with or nominating his son, it was probably not politically realistic, since G.W. Bush did not hold his first elected office until after his father left the Presidency.
The anti-nepotism statute, enacted partly in response to President Kennedy appointing his brother as Attorney General, provides that
Under the law,
I don’t think an elective office such as the vice-presidency counts for that anti-nepotism law. The president doesn’t “appoint” the vice-president, the Electoral College does. Nor can the president advance or fire him.
The only real issue would be residency – the elected pres & VP can’t be from the same state (the 12th amendment issue brianmelendez raised).
Something similar popped up in 2000, when Bush 43 chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. At the time, Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, a Texas-based oil services company, so naturally, Dick was living in Texas. To get around the residency restriction, Cheney claimed Wyoming residency. It’s a bit of a dodge, but perfectly legal, apparently.
I posted the anti-nepotism statute because I suspected that it may have prompted the OP’s inquiry. The statute clearly does not apply, as the preceding post explained:
The 12th Amendment just prevents people from one state for voting for a president and VP who are BOTH from that state.
There is no restriction on an appointed VP I believe. Approval of both houses of Congress is needed.
Sorry, Brianmelendez, I am just catching up with old business.
What does this statement mean? Are you saying a VP needs to be elected President in order to gain the experience needed to be VP? And, by the way, GW Bush was Gov of TX. Doesn’t that count? - Jinx 
It means W wasn’t elected governor, assemblyman, dogcatcher, or anything else until his dad had already retired. Most people don’t see a totally inexperienced ne’er-do-well business failure as presidential timber.
Jinx, George H.W. Bush left the presidency in January 1993. His son George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas in November 1994. That was W.'s first run at public office.
If we hypothesize a Bush/Bush ticket in 1992, W. had no experience in public office at that time. Voters don’t go for that.
What Nametag and Walloon said.
W. had made a run for the House in TX back in the 1980s and was unsuccessful.
Actually he ran in 1978. Won his primary, lost the general election.
Cite
On the other hand, there is an age requirement. I can’t remeber what it is, though, and I’m unsure of GWB’s age. Was he old enough at the time GHWB was running?
George W. Bush was 43 when his pop was inaugurated as president.
…and the age requirement for Pres and VP is 35.
The vice president does not work for the president and the nepotism concern is a non-issue. So is the matter of the Texas electoral vote- George I had what, a dozen home states? He could have ran from Maine or whatever. Sort of like Dick Cheny all of a sudden getting a new home state. Or Hillary becoming a New Yorker.
::bangs head against wall::