• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Could Obama run as VP?

J

Jolly_Penguin

Banned
Banned
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
10,366
Location
South Pole
Basic Beliefs
Skeptic
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
Click to expand...
No, he can't be VP exactly because he cannot become the P in place of a downed P.

Trump could run for VP in 2020, as he still has a term of eligibility. If he wins in 2020, he can't be VP in 2024.
 
Keith&Co. said:
Jolly_Penguin said:
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
Click to expand...
No, he can't be VP exactly because he cannot become the P in place of a downed P.

Trump could run for VP in 2020, as he still has a term of eligibility. If he wins in 2020, he can't be VP in 2024.
Click to expand...

I have no reason to question you in that so I'm not, but I am curious what your source is. The amendment specifically says elected to president. That rules out other ways of getting there ? Could he also not be in the 3rd in line position for this reason? Is he barred from politics entirely? Could he for example be a mayor?
 
Actually, it's unclear whether or not he could run as VP, according to Snopes. But, you could have looked up that answer yourself.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/former-president-becomes-vice-president/


Congress passed the 22nd amendment, ratified by the requisite number of states in 1951, which created a two-term limit for future Presidents. That amendment (along with earlier constitutional restrictions) would seem to disqualify Barack Obama from ever again attaining the office of President or Vice President of the United States, as he was elected to, and served, two full terms in that office between 2009 and 2017.

However, the wording of the 22nd Amendment doesn’t literally say that no one can be President for more than two terms; only that no one can be elected President more than twice:
Click to expand...


Again we bump into some problems of literalness, though, because some would argue that a person who has already run up against the limits of the 22nd Amendment isn’t “constitutionally ineligible” to be President (i.e., that person doesn’t fail to meet one or more of the requirements specified in Article II of the constitution, such as being at least 35 years old or a natural-born citizen of the United States) but is merely constitutionally ineligible to be elected President. Under this interpretation, a former two-term President would still be eligible, under the law, to obtain and hold the office of Vice President through election or appointment to that position.

Ultimately, the only answer to this hypothetical is that there is no answer: this is an interpretive legal issue that, should it ever arise, would have to be decided by the judicial branch of the U.S. government.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt that anyone who has already been president for two terms would even want to run for or be VP.
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
Keith&Co. said:
Jolly_Penguin said:
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
Click to expand...
No, he can't be VP exactly because he cannot become the P in place of a downed P.

Trump could run for VP in 2020, as he still has a term of eligibility. If he wins in 2020, he can't be VP in 2024.
Click to expand...

I have no reason to question you in that so I'm not, but I am curious what your source is. The amendment specifically says elected to president. That rules out other ways of getting there ?
Click to expand...
My source was Ford's presidency. There was a lot of discussion then about whether he could run for another term or two terms. How much of a term 'counts' towards that 2-term limit. Whether 'ascended to' counts.

IIRC, if the VP rises to the P position for more than half of the original term, it 'counts' as a term in office. he can only run for reelection once.
Could he also not be in the 3rd in line position for this reason? Is he barred from politics entirely? Could he for example be a mayor?
Click to expand...
As i recall, he could run for Congress, and become speaker, but if P and VP were lost, they'd have to skip over him to 4th successor. But the VP's only real purpose is to be the 'in case' P, so there's no point.
 
southernhybrid said:
Actually, it's unclear whether or not he could run as VP, according to Snopes. But, you could have looked up that answer yourself.
Click to expand...

I read the Wikipedia entry before posting here. It also says it's unclear. So I thought it an interesting question for a thread.
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
Keith&Co. said:
Jolly_Penguin said:
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
Click to expand...
No, he can't be VP exactly because he cannot become the P in place of a downed P.

Trump could run for VP in 2020, as he still has a term of eligibility. If he wins in 2020, he can't be VP in 2024.
Click to expand...

I have no reason to question you in that so I'm not, but I am curious what your source is. The amendment specifically says elected to president. That rules out other ways of getting there ? Could he also not be in the 3rd in line position for this reason? Is he barred from politics entirely? Could he for example be a mayor?
Click to expand...
I'd say it'd likely go to SCOTUS and SCOTUS would rule that the intent of the Amendment was not to allow a third full term, therefore, he couldn't be the VP in the ticket. On the other hand, an argument can be made that there is no standing until said two-term former President was in a position to become President again through the acting President stepping down.... and then it is found unconstitutional.

The one thing a former two-term President could possibly do, is become Speaker of the House, as anyone can become Speaker of the House. That only requires a majority of the House to vote for you.

However, this is again, a tradition thing. Presidents usually don't get involved post Presidency.
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
However, this is again, a tradition thing. Presidents usually don't get involved post Presidency.
Click to expand...

Will likely keep Obama away. But how about Trump in 2024? He becomes speaker of the house and P and VP resign....
Click to expand...
The GOP would need to:
1) have the House majority again
2) elect him as Speaker of the House

The Speaker of the House is an actual job. He likely wouldn't like it. Granted, he managed to make the US Presidency into a Golfing and Campaign holiday, but he needs to be at work when Congress is in session (though I suppose I'd need to look it up to confirm that).
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Keith&Co. said:
What state does he run in for Congress, though?
Click to expand...
You don't need to be an elected official to be Speaker of the House.
Click to expand...

So that would truly get him around this limitation then since the law reads "elected president". Even if you seperate those two words from one another, and count people who are elected and then become president (such as VP) that wouldn't include this.

Imagine it. Not only does Trump win in 2020, he also uses this to retain power in 2024. Yikes! He did mention wanting to be president for life right?
 
Keith&Co. said:
Jolly_Penguin said:
I know you have term limits that one person can only be elected president for 8 years (22nd amendment), but does that limit Obama from running for VP? Could he then serve as president if something happened to the elected President? Could Trump do this in 2024?
Click to expand...
No, he can't be VP exactly because he cannot become the P in place of a downed P.

Trump could run for VP in 2020, as he still has a term of eligibility. If he wins in 2020, he can't be VP in 2024.
Click to expand...

This is well outside my scope but isn't Secretary of State in the line of succession and a workaround was created for Henry Kissinger as he was ineligible to be President? Couldn't a similar thing also happen in this hypothetical or am I comparing apples to oranges?
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
Keith&Co. said:
What state does he run in for Congress, though?
Click to expand...
You don't need to be an elected official to be Speaker of the House.
Click to expand...

So that would truly get him around this limitation then since the law reads "elected president". Even if you seperate those two words from one another, and count people who are elected and then become president (such as VP) that wouldn't include this.
Click to expand...
It could if SCOTUS says it does.

Imagine it. Not only does Trump win in 2020, he also uses this to retain power in 2024.
Click to expand...
The question was can he be VP, not if he can be President again. A two-term President can not serve another four years. The only potential possibility would be as VP or Speaker of the House not creating a testable condition, saying his proximity to becoming President wasn't great enough to warrant court involvement... yet. Clearly the intent of the Constitutional Amendment was to not allow someone three plus terms.
 
The order of succession is established by the Presidential Succession Act, not the amendment. The act specifically states that people not meeting the requirement of being president who hold an office on the list don't become president, but the next qualifying person does. Simple. So a former two term president can become Speaker of the House or Secretary of Labor, but they can't become president in the event of a catastrophe.
 
Sarpedon said:
The order of succession is established by the Presidential Succession Act, not the amendment. The act specifically states that people not meeting the requirement of being president who hold an office on the list don't become president, but the next qualifying person does. Simple. So a former two term president can become Speaker of the House or Secretary of Labor, but they can't become president in the event of a catastrophe.
Click to expand...

Could that also work for the vice president? I.e. Obama could play second fiddle from the Eisenhower Building, but if President Biden dies in office, it goes to Speaker of the House?

This whole thread reminded me of this though:
 
Why would you guys want Obama back? He deported more people than Trump and opened the detention centers and you guys claim to hate Trump and call him a Nazi.

Consistency from leftists? I won't hold my breath.
 
Half-Life said:
Why would you guys want Obama back? He deported more people than Trump and opened the detention centers and you guys claim to hate Trump and call him a Nazi.

Consistency from leftists? I won't hold my breath.
Click to expand...

Who'd have thought more people get deported over an eight year period than a two year period. Basic math from a right wing intellectually dishonest hack? I won't hold my breath.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom