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| Re: Could Bill Clinton Be Vice President? (200936) | |||
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Re: Could Bill Clinton Be Vice President? |
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Posted by italianstallion on Tue Mar 13 21:06:32 2007, in response to Re: Could Bill Clinton Be Vice President?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Mar 13 20:59:39 2007. It turns out this issue was discussed in the press in 2000, when some suggested Gore should name Pres. Clinton as his VP running-mate.Article bt Michael Dorf, Columbia Law professor Excerpts: >>President Clinton is certainly ineligible to be elected to another presidential term, based on the 22nd Amendment. Some might infer from the 12th Amendment that he is therefore also ineligible to be elected to a vice-presidential term. But these naysayers would be wrong. The Constitution permits Clinton to be elected vice-president, and if necessary to ascend for a third time to the presidency as careful attention to the language of the 12th and 22nd Amendments shows. The 12th Amendment would allow a Clinton vice-presidency. Its language only bars from the vice-presidency those persons who are "ineligible to the office" of President. Clinton is not ineligible to the office of president, however. He is only disqualified (by the 22nd Amendment) from being elected to that office. This is no mere semantic distinction. Article II of the Constitution carefully defines exactly who is "eligible to the Office of President": anyone who is a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old, and has been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years. For example, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is ineligible for the office of president because she is a naturalized, rather than a natural born, citizen. Accordingly, the 12th Amendment renders her ineligible to the office of vice-president as well. But Bill Clinton can serve as vice president, because the 22nd Amendment's prohibition on running for a third presidential term is not a condition of the office of president. The 22nd Amendment states: "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person [who has served more than half a term] shall be elected to the office of the president more than once." The language is quite clear. It places no limits whatsoever on how many terms someone may serve as president, only how many times he can be elected.<< |
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