View source for Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

{{Short description|1951 amendment limiting presidents to two terms}}
{{Redirect|Twenty-second Amendment}}
{{Use American English|date = April 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{US Constitution article series}}
The '''Twenty-second Amendment''' ('''Amendment XXII''') to the [[United States Constitution]] limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of [[President of the United States]] to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors.<ref name="TermsTenure">{{cite web |last=Neale |first=Thomas H. |date=October 19, 2009 |title=Presidential Terms and Tenure: Perspectives and Proposals for Change |url=http://www.whitehousetransitionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Terms-Tenure_101909-1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412033137/http://www.whitehousetransitionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Terms-Tenure_101909-1.pdf |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |access-date=March 22, 2018 |website=White House Transition Project |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]] |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the [[State legislature (United States)|state legislatures]] for [[Article Five of the United States Constitution#Ratification of amendments|ratification]]. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment (neither [[Alaska]] nor [[Hawaii]] had yet been [[Admission to the Union|admitted as a state]]), and its provisions [[Coming into force|came into force]] on that date.
The amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again. Under the amendment, someone who fills an unexpired presidential term lasting more than two years is also prohibited from being elected president more than once. Scholars debate whether the amendment prohibits affected individuals from succeeding to the presidency under any circumstances or whether it applies only to presidential elections. Until the amendment's ratification, the president had not been subject to [[term limit]]s, but both [[George Washington]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]] (the first and third presidents) decided not to run for a third term, establishing a two-term tradition. In the [[1940 United States presidential election|1940]] and [[1944 United States presidential election|1944]] presidential elections, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] became the only president to be elected for a third and fourth term, giving rise to concerns about a president serving unlimited terms.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 5, 2020 |title=FDR's third-term election and the 22nd amendment |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment |access-date=April 29, 2022 |website=[[National Constitution Center]] |publisher= |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |archive-date=December 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203195234/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Text==
<!--The words Article and President are capitalized here as per the citation.-->
{{blockquote|'''Section 1.''' 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. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.}}
{{blockquote|'''Section 2.''' This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.<ref name=CUSA:AA>{{cite web| title=Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation| url=https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2017.pdf| date=August 26, 2017| publisher=Library of Congress| location=Washington, D.C.| pages=39–40| access-date=March 22, 2018| archive-date=January 10, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110081652/https://congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2017.pdf| url-status=live}}</ref>}}
==Background==
The Twenty-second Amendment was a reaction to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s election to an unprecedented four terms as president, but presidential [[term limit]]s had long been debated in American politics. Delegates to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention of 1787]] considered the issue extensively (alongside broader questions, such as who would elect the president, and the president's role). Many, including [[Alexander Hamilton]] and [[James Madison]], supported lifetime tenure for presidents, while others favored fixed terms. Virginia's [[George Mason]] denounced the life-tenure proposal as tantamount to [[elective monarchy]].<ref name="BuckleyMetzger">{{cite web |last1=Buckley |first1=F. H. |author-link=F.H. Buckley |last2=Metzger |first2=Gillian |author-link2=Gillian E. Metzger |title=Twenty-second Amendment |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii/interpretations/149 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241119004304/https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii/interpretations/149 |archive-date=November 19, 2024 |access-date=November 24, 2024 |work=The Interactive Constitution |publisher=[[National Constitution Center]] |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |url-status=live }}</ref> An early draft of the U.S. Constitution provided that the president was restricted to one seven-year term.<ref>First draft U.S.CONST., art. X, section 1.</ref> Ultimately, the Framers approved four-year terms with no restriction on how many times a person could be elected president.
Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, term limits for U.S. presidents were contemplated during the presidencies of [[George Washington]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]]. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline. He was also bothered by his political opponents' unrelenting attacks, which had escalated after the signing of the [[Jay Treaty]], and believed he had accomplished his major goals as president. For these reasons, he decided not to run for a third term, a decision he announced to the nation in his September 1796 ''[[George Washington's Farewell Address|Farewell Address]]''.<ref>{{cite book| last=Ferling| first=John| author-link=John E. Ferling| title=The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon| date=2009| publisher=Bloomsbury Press| location=New York| pages=[https://archive.org/details/ascentofgeorgewa00ferl/page/347 347–348]| isbn=978-1-59691-465-0| url=https://archive.org/details/ascentofgeorgewa00ferl/page/347}}</ref> Eleven years later, as Thomas Jefferson neared the halfway point of his second term, he wrote,
{{blockquote|If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |date=December 10, 1807 |title=Letter to the Legislature of Vermont |url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-the-legislature-of-vermont/ |access-date=March 19, 2018 |publisher=TeachingAmericanHistory.org |location=Ashland, Ohio |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215713/https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-the-legislature-of-vermont/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Since Washington made his historic announcement, numerous academics and public figures have looked at his decision to retire after two terms, and have, according to [[Political science|political scientist]] Bruce Peabody, "argued he had established a ''two-term tradition'' that served as a vital check against any one person, or the presidency as a whole, accumulating too much power".<ref name="Peabody22A">{{cite web |last=Peabody |first=Bruce |title=Presidential Term Limit |url=http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/amendments/22/essays/184/presidential-term-limit |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724095029/http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/amendments/22/essays/184/presidential-term-limit |archive-date=July 24, 2017 |access-date=January 10, 2017 |publisher=[[The Heritage Foundation]]}}</ref> Various amendments aimed at changing informal precedent to constitutional law were proposed in Congress in the early to mid-19th century, but none passed.<ref name=BuckleyMetzger/><ref name="PeabodyGant">{{cite journal |last1=Peabody |first1=Bruce G. |last2=Gant |first2=Scott E. |date=February 1999 |title=The Twice and Future President: Constitutional Interstices and the Twenty-Second Amendment |url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr/909 |journal=[[Minnesota Law Review]] |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=565–635 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=}}</ref> Three of the next four presidents after Jefferson—Madison, [[James Monroe]], and [[Andrew Jackson]]—served two terms, and each adhered to the two-term principle;<ref name=TermsTenure/> [[Martin Van Buren]] was the only president between Jackson and [[Abraham Lincoln]] to be nominated for a second term, though he lost the [[1840 United States presidential election|1840 election]] and so served only one term.<ref name=PeabodyGant/> At the outset of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the seceding States drafted the [[Constitution of the Confederate States of America]], which in most respects resembled the United States Constitution, but limited the president to a single six-year term.
[[File:The Appomattox of the third termers - unconditional surrender LCCN97515771.tif|alt=Cartoon showing Ulysses S. Grant handing a sword to James Garfield, who is holding a rolled-up paper|thumb|left|upright=1.25|[[Ulysses S. Grant]] is shown surrendering to [[James A. Garfield]] after losing the 1880 Republican presidential nomination to him, in this [[Political satire|satirical]] ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'' cartoon.]]
In spite of the strong two-term tradition, a few presidents before Roosevelt attempted to secure a third term. Following [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s reelection in [[1872 United States presidential election|1872]], there were serious discussions within Republican political circles about the possibility of his running again in 1876. But interest in a third term for Grant evaporated in the light of negative public opinion and opposition from members of Congress, and Grant left the presidency in 1877 after two terms. Even so, as the 1880 election approached, he sought nomination for a (non-consecutive) third term at the [[1880 Republican National Convention]], but narrowly lost to [[James A. Garfield]], who won the [[1880 United States presidential election|1880 election]].<ref name=PeabodyGant/>
[[Theodore Roosevelt]] succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901, following [[Assassination of William McKinley|William McKinley's assassination]] ({{age in days|Mar 4 1901|Sep 14 1901}} days into his second term), and was handily elected to a full term in [[1904 United States presidential election|1904]]. He declined to seek a third (second full) term in 1908, but did run again in the [[1912 United States presidential election|1912 election]], losing to [[Woodrow Wilson]]. Wilson himself, despite his ill health following a serious stroke, aspired to a third term. Many of his advisers tried to convince him that his health precluded another campaign, but Wilson nonetheless asked that his name be placed in nomination for the presidency at the [[1920 Democratic National Convention]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Year of the Six Presidents |last=Pietrusza |first=David |publisher=Carroll and Graf |location=New York |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-78671-622-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786716227/page/187 187–200] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786716227/page/187 }}</ref> Democratic Party leaders were unwilling to support Wilson, and the nomination went to [[James M. Cox]], who lost to [[Warren G. Harding]]. Wilson again contemplated running for a (non-consecutive) third term in 1924, devising a strategy for his comeback, but again lacked any support. He died in February of that year.<ref>{{Cite book |title=In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2A8WtVeFc4C&pg=PA261 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Connecticut |date=1998 |isbn= 9780313305207 |first=Robert M. |last=Saunders |pages=260–262}}</ref>
[[File:FDR 1944 Color Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=.75|right|[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], elected to four terms, was president from 1933 until his death in 1945.]]
Franklin Roosevelt spent the months leading up to the [[1940 Democratic National Convention]] refusing to say whether he would seek a third term. His vice president, [[John Nance Garner]], along with [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] [[James Farley]], announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. When the convention came, Roosevelt sent a message to the convention saying he would run only if [[Draft (politics)|drafted]], saying delegates were free to vote for whomever they pleased. This message was interpreted to mean he was willing to be drafted, and he was renominated on the convention's first ballot.<ref name=PeabodyGant/><ref>{{cite book| last=Rosen| first=Elliot A.| editor-last=Walch| editor-first=Timothy| title=At the President's Side: The Vice Presidency in the Twentieth Century| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBYghyfZjOUC&pg=PA52| chapter='Not Worth a Pitcher of Warm Piss': John Nance Garner as Vice President| date=1997| publisher=University of Missouri Press| location=Columbia, Missouri| pages=[https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc/page/52 52–53]| isbn=0-8262-1133-X| access-date=March 20, 2018| url=https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc/page/52}}</ref> Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican [[Wendell Willkie]], becoming the only president to exceed eight years in office. His decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign.<ref name="NCC">{{cite web |title=FDR's third-term decision and the 22nd amendment |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215716/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment/ |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=June 29, 2014 |work=Constitution Daily Blog |publisher=[[National Constitution Center]] |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania}}</ref> Willkie ran against the open-ended presidential tenure, while Democrats cited the [[World War II|war in Europe]] as a reason for breaking with precedent.<ref name=PeabodyGant/>
Four years later, Roosevelt faced Republican [[Thomas E. Dewey]] in the [[1944 United States presidential election|1944 election]]. Near the end of the campaign, Dewey announced his support of a constitutional amendment to limit presidents to two terms. According to Dewey, "four terms, or sixteen years [a direct reference to the president's tenure in office four years hence] is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed."<ref>{{cite book |last=Jordan |first=David M. |url=https://archive.org/details/fdrdeweyelection0000jord/page/290 |title=FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 |date=2011 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35683-3 |location=Bloomington, Indiana |page=[https://archive.org/details/fdrdeweyelection0000jord/page/290 290] |jstor=j.ctt16gzcfx}}</ref> He also discreetly raised the issue of the president's age. Roosevelt exuded enough energy and charisma to retain voters' confidence and was elected to a fourth term.<ref>{{cite web| last=Leuchtenburg| first=William E.| url=https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/campaigns-and-elections| title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: Campaigns and Elections| date=October 4, 2016| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| location=Charlottesville, Virginia| access-date=March 20, 2018| archive-date=January 14, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215609/https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/campaigns-and-elections| url-status=live}}</ref>
While he quelled rumors of poor health during the campaign, Roosevelt's health was deteriorating. On April 12, 1945, only {{age in days|Jan 20, 1945|Apr 12, 1945}} days after his [[Fourth inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt|fourth inauguration]], he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and [[List of presidents of the United States who died in office#1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt|died]], to be succeeded by Vice President [[Harry Truman]].<ref>{{cite web| last=Leuchtenburg| first=William E.| url=https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/death-of-the-president| title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: Death of the President| date=October 4, 2016| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| location=Charlottesville, Virginia| access-date=March 20, 2018| archive-date=January 14, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215617/https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/death-of-the-president| url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[1946 United States elections|midterm elections]] {{age in months|1945|4|12|1946|11|5}} months later, Republicans took control of the House and the Senate. As many of them had campaigned on the issue of presidential tenure, declaring their support for a constitutional amendment that would limit how long a person could serve as president, the issue was given priority in the [[80th Congress]] when it convened in January 1947.<ref name=Peabody22A/>
==Proposal and ratification==
===Proposal in Congress===
{{See also|Presidency of Harry S. Truman}}
The [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] took quick action, approving a proposed constitutional amendment (House [[Joint Resolution]]&nbsp;27) setting a limit of two four-year terms for future presidents. Introduced by [[Earl C. Michener]], the measure passed 285–121, with support from 47 Democrats, on February 6, 1947.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly''. (1947). Limitations of Presidential Tenure. ''Congressional Quarterly Vol. III.'' 92-93, 96.</ref> Meanwhile, the Senate developed its own proposed amendment, which initially differed from the House proposal by requiring that the amendment be submitted to [[state ratifying conventions]] for ratification, rather than to the state legislatures, and by prohibiting any person who had served more than 365 days in each of two terms from further presidential service. Both of these provisions were removed when the full Senate took up the bill; however, a new provision was added. Put forward by [[Robert A. Taft]], it clarified procedures governing the number of times a vice president who succeeded to the presidency might be elected to office. The amended proposal was passed 59–23, with 16 Democrats in favor, on March 12.<ref name=TermsTenure/><ref name="tahlequahdailypress">{{Cite news |last=Rowley |first=Sean |date=July 26, 2014 |title=Presidential terms limited by 22nd Amendment |url=http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/features/presidential-terms-limited-by-nd-amendment/article_abfac7ef-c505-55f2-b171-08bc83b6914d.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215616/https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/features/presidential-terms-limited-by-nd-amendment/article_abfac7ef-c505-55f2-b171-08bc83b6914d.html |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=March 22, 2018 |work=[[Tahlequah Daily Press]]}}</ref>
On March 21, the House agreed to the Senate's revisions and approved the resolution to amend the Constitution. Afterward, the amendment imposing term limitations on future presidents was submitted to the states for ratification. The ratification process was completed on February 27, 1951, {{age in years and days|1947|3|21|1951|2|27}} after it was sent to the states.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxii| title=22nd Amendment: Two-Term Limit on Presidency| website=constitutioncenter.org| publisher=National Constitution Center| location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania| access-date=June 7, 2020| archive-date=February 20, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220174443/https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxii| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.usconstitution.net/constamrat.html| website=usconstitution.net| title=Ratification of Constitutional Amendments| access-date=June 9, 2020| last=Mount| first=Steve| archive-date=April 23, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423013551/https://www.usconstitution.net/constamrat.html| url-status=live}}</ref>
===Ratification by the states===
[[File: The Ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment.png|thumb|A map of how the states voted on the Twenty-second Amendment]]
[[File:22nd Amendment Pg1of1 AC.jpg|thumb|The Twenty-Second Amendment in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]]]
Once submitted to the states, the 22nd Amendment was ratified by:<ref name=CUSA:AA/>
# Maine: March 31, 1947
# Michigan: March 31, 1947
# Iowa: April 1, 1947
# Kansas: April 1, 1947
# New Hampshire: April 1, 1947
# Delaware: April 2, 1947
# Illinois: April 3, 1947
# Oregon: April 3, 1947
# Colorado: April 12, 1947
# California: April 15, 1947
# New Jersey: April 15, 1947
# Vermont: April 15, 1947
# Ohio: April 16, 1947
# Wisconsin: April 16, 1947
# Pennsylvania: April 29, 1947
# Connecticut: May 21, 1947
# Missouri: May 22, 1947
# Nebraska: May 23, 1947
# Virginia: January 28, 1948
# Mississippi: February 12, 1948
# New York: March 9, 1948
# South Dakota: January 21, 1949
# North Dakota: February 25, 1949
# Louisiana: May 17, 1950
# Montana: January 25, 1951
# Indiana: January 29, 1951
# Idaho: January 30, 1951
# New Mexico: February 12, 1951
# Wyoming: February 12, 1951
# Arkansas: February 15, 1951
# Georgia: February 17, 1951
# Tennessee: February 20, 1951
# Texas: February 22, 1951
# Utah: February 26, 1951
# Nevada: February 26, 1951
# Minnesota: February 27, 1951<br>Ratification was completed when the Minnesota Legislature ratified the amendment. On March 1, 1951, the Administrator of [[General Services Administration|General Services]], [[Jess Larson]], issued a certificate [[Promulgation|proclaiming]] the 22nd Amendment duly ratified and part of the Constitution. The amendment was subsequently ratified by:<ref name=CUSA:AA/>
# North Carolina: February 28, 1951
# South Carolina: March 13, 1951
# Maryland: March 14, 1951
# Florida: April 16, 1951
# Alabama: May 4, 1951
Conversely, two states—Massachusetts and Oklahoma—rejected the amendment, while five (Arizona, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia) took no action.<ref name=tahlequahdailypress/>
==Effect==
Because of the [[grandfather clause]] in Section 1, the amendment did not apply to Harry S. Truman, the incumbent president at the time it was submitted to the states by the Congress. This full exemption allowed Truman to run again in 1952. He had served nearly all of Franklin Roosevelt's unexpired 1945–1949 term and had been elected to a full four-year term beginning in 1949.<ref name="NCC"/> But with his job approval rating at around 27%,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Public and the 22nd Amendment: Third Terms and Lame Ducks |last=Weldon |first=Kathleen |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-weldon/the-public-and-the-22nd-a_b_7967538.html |newspaper=Huffington Post |date=August 11, 2015 |access-date=March 27, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215619/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-public-and-the-22nd-a_b_7967538 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=APPtrumanJA>{{cite web |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T. |title=Presidential Job Approval: F. Roosevelt (1941)—Trump |publisher=The American Presidency Project |location=Santa Barbara, California |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php?pres=33 |others=Data adapted from the [[Gallup (company)#Gallup Poll|Gallup Poll]] and compiled by Gerhard Peters |access-date=March 27, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215618/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/presidential-job-approval |url-status=live }}</ref> and after a poor performance in the [[New Hampshire presidential primary#Democratic results|1952 New Hampshire primary]], Truman chose not to seek his party's nomination. Since becoming operative in 1951, the amendment has barred seven twice-elected presidents from election to a third term: [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Bill Clinton]], [[George W. Bush]], [[Barack Obama]], and [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Presidential Third Terms |date=August 11, 2015 |url=https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/presidential-third-terms |publisher=Roper Center, Cornell University |location=Ithaca, New York |access-date=November 13, 2024 |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609113443/https://www.ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/presidential-third-terms |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trump floats seeking third term in joke to House Republicans |last=Brooks |first=Emily |date=November 13, 2024 |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4988568-trump-third-term-house-republicans/ |website=thehill.com |access-date=November 13, 2024 |archive-date=November 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241114042701/https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4988568-trump-third-term-house-republicans/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Interaction with the Twelfth Amendment==
{{See also|Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution#Interaction with the Twenty-second Amendment}}
As worded, the focus of the 22nd Amendment is on limiting individuals from being elected to the presidency more than twice. Questions have been raised about the amendment's meaning and application, especially in relation to the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|12th Amendment]], ratified in 1804, which states, "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution: Amendments 11-27|url=https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215246/https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27|archive-date=January 14, 2021|access-date=March 11, 2018|work=America's Founding Documents|date=November 4, 2015 |publisher=National Archives|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> While the 12th Amendment stipulates that the constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency apply to the president and vice president, it is unclear whether someone who is ineligible to be elected president due to term limits could be elected vice president. Because of the ambiguity, a two-term former president could possibly be elected vice president and then succeed to the presidency as a result of the incumbent's death, resignation, or removal from office, or succeed to become [[Acting President of the United States|Acting President]] from another stated office in the [[United States presidential line of succession|presidential line of succession]].<ref name=PeabodyGant/><ref>{{cite web |last=Ready |first=Joel A. |date=July 2024 |title=The 22nd Amendment Doesn't Say What You Think It Says |url=https://cornerstonelaw.us/22nd-amendment-doesnt-say-think-says/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215625/https://cornerstonelaw.us/22nd-amendment-doesnt-say-think-says/ |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=November 24, 2024 |publisher=Cornerstone Law Firm |location=Blandon, Pennsylvania}}</ref>
It has been argued that the 22nd Amendment and 12th Amendment bar any two-term president from later serving as vice president as well as from succeeding to the presidency from any point in the presidential line of succession.<ref name="Coenen">{{cite journal |last1=Coenen |first1=Dan |author-link=Dan Coenen |date=2015 |title=Two-Time Presidents and the Vice-Presidency |url=https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1012/ |journal=[[Boston College Law Review]] |volume=56 |pages=1287–1344 |ssrn=2592508 |access-date= |archive-date=October 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241002195423/https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1012/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Constitutional Sleight of Hand| last=Franck| first=Matthew J.| date=July 31, 2007| access-date=June 12, 2008| work=[[National Review]]|url=http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDgwODVmMzcwMTQwNDM3YjU0OGE5ZjQyOTIxNmUyYzY=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613214946/http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDgwODVmMzcwMTQwNDM3YjU0OGE5ZjQyOTIxNmUyYzY=|archive-date=June 13, 2008}}</ref> Others contend that the [[original intent]] of the 12th Amendment concerns qualification for service (age, residence, and citizenship), while the 22nd Amendment concerns qualifications for election, and thus a former two-term president is still eligible to serve as vice president. Neither amendment restricts the number of times someone can be elected to the vice presidency and then succeed to the presidency to serve out the balance of the term, although the person could be prohibited from running for election to an additional term.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dorf |first=Michael C. |author-link=Michael C. Dorf |date=August 2, 2000 |title=Why the Constitution permits a Gore-Clinton ticket |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/08/columns/fl.dorf.goreclinton.08.01/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051001004410/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/08/columns/fl.dorf.goreclinton.08.01/ |archive-date=October 1, 2005 |work=[[CNN]] |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=How to bring back Bill: A Clinton-Clinton 2008 ticket is constitutionally possible| last1=Gant| first1=Scott E.| last2=Peabody| first2=Bruce G.| url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0613/p09s02-coop.html| work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]| date=June 13, 2006| access-date=June 12, 2008| archive-date=January 14, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215626/https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0613/p09s02-coop.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The practical applicability of this distinction has not been tested, as no person has been elected president and vice president in that order, regardless of terms served.
==Attempts at repeal==
Over the years, several presidents have voiced their antipathy toward the amendment. After leaving office, Harry Truman described the amendment as stupid and one of the worst amendments of the Constitution with the exception of the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Prohibition Amendment]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lemelin |first=Bernard |date=Winter 1999 |title=Opposition to the 22nd Amendment: The National Committee Against Limiting the Presidency and its Activities, 1949-1951 |journal=[[Canadian Review of American Studies]] |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=133–148 |doi=10.3138/CRAS-029-03-06 |s2cid=159908265}}</ref> A few days before leaving office in January 1989, President [[Ronald Reagan]] said he would push for a repeal of the 22nd Amendment because he thought it infringed on people's democratic rights.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Reagan |first=Ronald |subject-link=Ronald Reagan |interviewer=[[Tom Brokaw]] |title=President Reagan Says He Will Fight to Repeal 22nd Amendment |work=[[NBC Nightly News]] |publisher=[[NBC]] |location=New York |date=January 18, 1989}} Retrieved June 14, 2015.</ref> In a November 2000 interview with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', President Bill Clinton suggested that the 22nd Amendment should be altered to limit presidents to two consecutive terms but then allow non-consecutive terms, because of longer [[life expectancy|life expectancies]].<ref>{{cite web |date=December 7, 2000 |title=Clinton: I Would've Won Third Term |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122302&page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215735/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122302&page=1 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=March 26, 2018 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |publisher=}}</ref>
The first efforts in Congress to repeal the 22nd Amendment were undertaken in 1956, five years after the amendment's ratification. Over the next 50 years, 54 [[joint resolution]]s seeking to repeal the two-term presidential election limit were introduced.<ref name=TermsTenure/> Between 1997 and 2013, [[José E. Serrano]], Democratic representative for New York, introduced nine resolutions (one per Congress, all unsuccessful) to repeal the amendment.<ref>{{cite web| title=H.J.Res. 15 (113th): Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President| url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hjres15| date=2013| publisher=[[GovTrack]], a project of Civic Impulse, LLC| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=March 23, 2018| archive-date=January 14, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215730/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hjres15| url-status=live}}</ref> Repeal has also been supported by Representatives [[Barney Frank]] and [[David Dreier]] and Senators [[Mitch McConnell]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=David |date=June 23, 2009 |title=Bill to Repeal the 22nd Amendment |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/term-limits/ |access-date=October 19, 2018 |website=[[Snopes]]}}</ref> and [[Harry Reid]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/200091.html|title=The 22nd Amendment|last=potus_geeks|date=February 27, 2012|access-date=October 19, 2018|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215731/https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/200091.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Term limits in the United States]]
* [[List of political term limits]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/twenty-second-amendment The Annenberg Guide to the United States Constitution: Twenty-second Amendment]
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt22toc_user.html CRS Annotated Constitution: Twenty-second Amendment]
{{US Constitution}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1951 in American law]]
[[Category:1951 in American politics]]
[[Category:Amendments to the United States Constitution]]
[[Category:Presidency of the United States]]
[[Category:Term limits]]
[[Category:80th United States Congress]]
[[Category:1947 in American politics]]