Why the 22nd Amendment prevents a third Trump term
The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution plainly bars people from being elected to the presidency more than twice, but that hasn't stopped President Donald Trump from floating the possibility of running for a third term.
"A lot of people want me to do it," Trump said in an interview with NBC News with Kristen Welker. "But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration."
Trump later followed up his remarks in an interview on Air Force One.
"I don't want to talk about a third term now, because no matter how you look at it, you got a long time to go."
What does the 22nd Amendment say?
The amendment opens with language that doesn't leave much room for broad interpretation:
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.
Here's the full text of the amendment:
When was the 22nd Amendment ratified?
The 22nd Amendment was ratified in February 1951 by three-quarters of the states; Minnesota was the final state to approve it. The amendment was originally passed by Congress in March 1947, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms between 1932 and 1944 fresh on the minds of the House and Senate leadership that ultimately passed it.
Any effort to repeal the amendment and change the Constitution would require either a two-thirds majority vote by the House and Senate or a two-thirds majority of state legislatures in a convention of the states, which would mean 38 states voting in favor of repeal.
Contributing: Riley Beggin
SOURCES Congress.gov; National Constitution Center; Paste BN