Presidential term limits created with constitutional amendment | Fact check
The claim: Presidential term limits were illegally created
A July 2 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the rules that limit a president's time in the White House aren't legitimate.
“Congress violated the Constitution in 1951 when they put term limits on the President,” the post reads in part. “The Constitution does NOT give Congress the authority to do so.”
The post was shared more than 90 times in three weeks. At least one other post made a similar claim.
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Our rating: False
Presidential term limits were established with the 22nd Amendment, which was properly proposed by Congress and ratified by the states.
Amendment followed process spelled out in Constitution
Lawmakers had pondered codifying term limits for the president before the Constitution was even written, but multiple efforts failed before Franklin Roosevelt won his fourth term in 1944. Roosevelt was the first person to successfully win more than two terms, bucking the precedent established by George Washington at the nation’s founding.
Creating term limits required a constitutional amendment, and contrary to the social media claim, one was passed legally, following the process spelled out in Article V of the Constitution. It says, in part:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress.”
The Constitution Center’s recap of the amendment’s ratification process shows the 22nd Amendment met the criteria to be enacted. The House initially approved a limit of two elected terms in 1947. The Senate approved an amended version that clarified someone assuming the presidency can serve up to two years of the elected president’s term and remain eligible to be elected two more times. The House then approved the amended version, moving the amendment to the states for consideration.
Ratification by the states took until February 1951, when Minnesota’s legislature approved the amendment.
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The post correctly lays out the amendment process, that the amendment can be proposed for ratification by the states through a 2/3 vote of Congress or a convention called by 2/3 of states, then ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures or 3/4 of state conventions.
It's just wrong about that process not being followed. The House and Senate both cleared the 2/3 bar for approval and the amendment was approved by 36 of the 48 states at the time, exactly the needed margin.
Paste BN reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
Reuters also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- National Archives, reviewed Aug. 15, 2016, Constitutional Amendment Process
- National Archives, last reviewed Aug. 15, 2016, Article V, U.S. Constitution
- Constitution Center, April 5, 2019, How the 22nd Amendment came into existence
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