One day I was just sitting around doing nothing when I thought of a loop hole in the president. Under the current United States Constitution, the President can only be President for a maximum of 10 years. I however believe I found a way around it:
President X dies, leaves etc, after two years of service. Vice President Y assumes office. He then run again and again, V.P. Y has now been president for 10 years… 4 years go by and V.P. Y has been chosen as the new Vice President to President Z, … President Z dies, leaves etc, V.P. Y is now President AGAIN.
Please tell me if I am correct in my view. Thanks.
The bottom line is that we won’t know for sure until someone actually tries it, someone else brings the case before the Supreme Court, and they rule one way or another.
Absent a ruling, the short answer is: probably not.
He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
Oh, I think Xenyl has it pretty much right. Someone could be elected President twice, after having served as Vice President for one year and 364 days; one could also then be appointed Vice President as many times as necessary, since you could always move to President through succession rather than election.
Looking back at all the other posts about if this could happen, the most common thing that is argued is the word ‘elect’ - This simple word has several different reason, it is just on how you look at it. I, however personsally believe that to be BS… we all know what elect means, you can play around with it all you like but the core definition still remeains the same.
I also do believe that this will not happen for a long time, but it will happen where someone in power is going to be forced to make a decision about it, which in turn would add another section in the United States’ Constitution which would have the Presidential line of succession skip any former two term presidents.
Just remember, the key word is ‘elect’ and that one word will be the cause of so many arguements.
Actually, I don’t think that anyone will ever be President again for more than 8 years, absent a national emergency of Titanic proportions.
People in the US tend to think of a constitution as consisting only of the words on a piece of paper. This is because we have a written constitution. But people in England are well aware that a constitution (plan of government, see WWWebster’s, definition 5) contains more than the words written down at some point in time. In England they have no written document entitled “Constitution”; instead the constitution consists of various written agreements, acts of Parliament, traditions established through customary usage, etc.
The US Constitution originally did not contain a provision regarding term limits on Presidents. There was debate about such limits at the Convention, according to Madison’s notes, but it was decided better to leave the issue open. However, President Washington established effective term limits by quitting the office after only two terms. He would easily have been elected for a third term had he wanted it. It wasn’t until 1912 that anyone even attempted to be elected to a third term, and THAT person had assumed the office initially through death of a President (Roosevelt after McKinley’s death). So, if one was to look at our history, one would conclude that this country has had an unwritten rule limiting Presidents to two terms in office.
When FDR violated that rule in 1940, it was an issue in the campaign. An impending national emergency, combined with continued dislike of the Republican party by those who were still feeling or remembering the effects of the Great Depression, resulted in his re-election. But you will note that, once he died, the country tried to make certain that the aberration of a three term President never happened again.
Thus, although one can make a strong case for a person ‘legally’ becoming President a third time (that is, it isn’t barred by the written constitution or laws of the land), the practical constitution probably would prevent anyone from successfully accomplishing that feat.