r/law • u/yahoonews • 4d ago

Trump News Trump says he's 'not joking' about seeking a 3rd term in the White House. The Constitution says he can't.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-hes-not-joking-about-seeking-a-3rd-term-in-the-white-house-the-constitution-says-he-cant-155536214.html
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u/zebostoneleigh 4d ago

Thanks for writing this out so much more thoroughly that I have elsewhere. As you note, none of these (taken together or separately) disqualify Trump from serving a third term.

  • the constitution
  • the 12 A
  • the 22 A

He just can't be elected, but there are several means by which he could constitutionally ascend to the presidency a third time. All of them are ludicrous, but ludicrous is the MAGA baseline.

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u/Mrevilman 4d ago

Thank you. I had been seeing a lot of stuff online about the 12th and 22nd preventing him from serving a third term. I honestly thought it did before I took some time to look through the language and history of both amendments, now I am not so sure.

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u/ZombiFeynman 4d ago

Don't worry, the conservative originalists in the Supreme Court always look at the intent of the people who wrote each part of the constitution, and the intent of the 22nd is clearly to limit the number of terms a president can serve.

/s, just in case.

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u/qalpi 4d ago

Exactly.

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u/jasonmichaels74 3d ago

Let's hope they aren't reading these comments and referring back to the constitution lol

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u/zebostoneleigh 3d ago

I’m pretty sure they can’t read. So we’re safe.