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The 22nd Amendment and Presidential Service Beyond Two Terms
With Donald Trump set to serve again as president, there has been talk about his ability to continue in office after his second term expires in four years. While the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment directly restricts Trump’s ability to run for a third term, he possibly could serve in a temporary role under some unusual scenarios.
The 22nd Amendment’s plain language clearly states that a person twice elected as president cannot run in an election for a third term. “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,” the amendment states. “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.”
The amendment has its roots in concerns raised after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms in office between 1932 and 1944. Roosevelt went against an unwritten precedent set by George Washington that limited presidents to serving a maximum of two full terms, or eight years. Roosevelt cited the need for stabile leadership during the World War II era to justify his additional terms.
Congress passed the 22nd Amendment on March 21, 1947, after debates in the House and Senate. According to the Congressional Research Service, Sen. Robert Taft introduced the clause that clarified when a vice president or a person acting as president could be elected to only one additional term—if they had served for more than two years of another president’s term—or if they had served for less than two years, could be elected to two full subsequent terms. The 22nd Amendment was ratified by three-quarters of the states on Feb. 27, 1951, when Minnesota approved the amendment.
Since 1951, few challenges have arisen to 22nd Amendment’s meaning when it comes to term limits for persons elected as president. There also have been unsuccessful attempts to repeal the 22nd Amendment introduced in Congress.
Only one amendment has been repealed in American history, the 18th Amendment establishing Prohibition, a process that required another amendment, the 21st Amendment, to repeal it. Any amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment would face practical and logistical obstacles, with 38 states needed to ratify the repeal amendment proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by conventions held by the states.
The Debate Over Presidential Service Beyond an Elected Term
One argument has been made in recent years about the ability of president, twice elected, to serve in a non-elected capacity when the office of the president is temporarily vacated; or the ability of president, twice elected, to be elected or appointed as vice president.
Under the 25th Amendment, a vice president becomes president when the office is vacant due to the president’s death, resignation, or removal from office. The vice president also can act as president when the president is unable to discharge their powers. If the vice president is unable to assume the president’s duties, or the office of vice president is vacant, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 comes into play.
Under the Succession Act, the Speaker of the House becomes the acting president until the disabilities or inabilities of the president and vice president are resolved. The Speaker must resign their position to become the acting president. The Senate president pro tempore and then cabinet members are next in line of succession.
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https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-22nd-amendment-and-presidential-service-beyond-two-terms