Posted on 02/28/2015 12:50:57 PM PST by Lazamataz
With the anniversary of the 22nd Amendment on Friday, Constitution Daily looks at two hot-button topics: Should a President be allowed to serve a third term? And should members of Congress and the Supreme Court have term limits like the President?
View photo .obamainaug1 The 22nd Amendment brought the idea of term limits into the Constitution. When it was ratified in 1951, the amendment limited a President from effectively serving a third term, by saying that a President who won two elections can’t run a third time. The 22nd Amendment also bars a President from serving more than 10 years in office, in a case of a President who assumed office as Vice President.
For example, Vice President Gerald Ford took over for President Richard Nixon in 1974 and served more than two years as president. If Ford had defeated Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election, Ford could not have run for re-election.
Long before the 22nd Amendment, George Washington had set an unofficial precedent in 1796 when he decided several months before the election not to seek a third term. But Alexander Hamilton and many Founders wanted a strong executive, and they opposed term limits as a concept. Thomas Jefferson and an equally influential group of Founders supported term limits for the President.
The only person to break from Washington’s precedent was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a record-setting four election wins. Before Roosevelt ran for re-election in 1940, most Presidents didn’t try for a third term in office, let alone a third consecutive term.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
the trial balloons are floating because Hildebeest is looking more and more nonviable as a candidate and the Rats have nothing left.
A couple of Presidents before FDR wanted a third term (Grant and TR--who was elected only once but served 3.5 years of McKinley's second term).
A President could serve longer than the 8 or 10 years spelled out in the 22nd amendment if after leaving office he was chosen as Speaker of the House and then the President and Vice President resigned simultaneously. Not sure if he would be called President or Acting President, but he would have the powers of the office. It is impossible to envision such a scenario actually happening.
it would be easier to have Michelle run than to try to amend the Constitution, if they thought Obama would be able to win a third term. The Lurleen Wallace solution.
alternatively, should obama be allowed to live to serve a third term?
if there is no law, then there certainly is no law
I’ve given that some thought. 18 years makes some sense. That would imply the need for one new justice every two years to maintain a 9-justice court. OTOH that would imply that each two-term POTUS would get to name one short of a majority of the court. That seems to me to be pushing it.The only sensible alternative, IMHO, seems to be to have a new justice every two years but set the term of a justice at 22 years. Thereby allowing the size of the court to increase to 11 justices. And I think that 22 years is a sensible limit; with life terms as at present we risk ending up with an Alzheimer’s Disease court . . .
“Obama will never leave office.”
The 2ndMarDiv is four hours away up I-95. They don’t hold their glocks sideways.
“If he runs for a third term who is going to stop him? “
Dumb post. Why would he “run” for a third term if he intends to appoint himself “Dictator of America?”
You read too many comicbooks.
Might as well keep Obama permanently. The next one they send in will probably just be worse.
What could be worse than Obama having a third term?
How about Hillary or Michelle having two terms? I just made myself sick.
Odinga will issue an executive order that years are now days. And a year is 133225 (365x365) “prerevolution” days. This will allow him to be dictator for life with “legal” propriety.
I would favor a mandatory retirement age for federal judges.
In Missouri, state judges must retire at age 70. Sometimes excellent judges are forced out, but I think it is on balance a good policy.
Next EO will be to change the meaning of "term" to "any length of time within a president's lifetime". Then he will EO that he gets to continue this second term for as long as he sees fit. Nice and neat and no need to add extra terms to the mix.
Obama could try to get his elephantine bride elected but she is just too nasty an object
“Obama should try on some of those spiffy military-style uniforms. Ghadafi had a sense of style. Perhaps Obama can reach that level.”
Michael Jackson isn’t using his anymore.
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