22. Amendment to the United States Constitution
The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America limits the term of office of the President of the United States to a maximum of two terms. Before the 22nd Amendment came into force, the constitution did not provide for such a limitation on the term of office of a president. The United States Congress introduced the amendment on March 21, 1947. It was ratified on February 27, 1951 by the required number of states.
text
English
Section 1
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. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Section 2
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
German
Paragraph 1
No one can be elected president more than twice. No one who held the office of president or carried out his duties for more than two years of the term for which another person was elected president may be elected to the office of president more than once. This article does not apply to anyone in the office of President at the time this Amendment was proposed by Congress. Neither does it prevent the person holding or holding the office of President during the period in which this article comes into force from continuing in the office of President for the remainder of that term.
Paragraph 2
This article shall take effect when ratified as an amendment to the constitution within seven years of its submission by Congress to the states of three-quarters of each state.
Limitation of the term of office
Previous tradition of a maximum of two terms of office
It is often claimed that the first President of the United States , George Washington , established the tradition of limiting the office of president to two terms. His farewell salute, however, suggests that he has refrained from attempting another term of office for reasons of age. It is more likely that Thomas Jefferson introduced this custom. Jefferson wrote: "If there is no limit to the term of office of the head of state in the constitution or if it is created by common law, the office, which should only be transferred for four years, is de facto transferred for life". Jefferson's direct successors to the office of President, James Madison and James Monroe , also followed the principle of limiting the presidential term to two terms.
Attempts for a second re-election
Few presidents tried to hold office for more than two terms. After he already held the office of President from 1869 to 1877, Ulysses Simpson Grant sought the office for a third term, but was no longer nominated by his party for the election. Theodore Roosevelt , in 1901 the assassinated William McKinley as its of former Vice President was followed into office after this term of office in 1904, even for a period of office as President had been elected was, in 1912 once again US president be elected, defeated in the election but Woodrow Wilson .
Franklin D. Roosevelt
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt first for a third term as president elected . His supporters justified the break with the previous tradition with the special situation created by the Second World War (which the USA had not yet entered at the time). In November 1944, while the US was at war, Roosevelt for a fourth term in office was elected president elected ; he died in office on April 12, 1945.
After his death, various quarters sought to introduce a strict rule in the constitution that would prohibit presidents from being elected to office more than twice. The background to this endeavor was the concern that the office of president without a time limit on the maximum term of office could equate to the position of a benevolent dictator for life, whose power would endanger the separation of powers and make elections superfluous. Hence, the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution was introduced.
Provisions of the constitutional amendment
Due to the addition, no one may be elected President more than twice. Furthermore, no one who has been appointed Vice-President or otherwise to the office of President without having been elected President and then has been President for more than two years or has served in place of the President may be elected President more than once. The consequence of this is that, according to the addition, a person may only be elected president twice, i.e. for a total of eight years, but theoretically the possibility of a ten-year term in office is opened up. Conversely, if the President resigns after a term of office of less than two years, a new Vice President can only be re-elected once, which means that he is in office for less than eight years. Theoretically, the regulation can limit the maximum permitted term of office to around six years.
History since it came into force
Harry S. Truman was President at the time it came into force and therefore, in accordance with its provisions, was the only one exempt from the regulations made there. He stepped in fact in one of the first primaries for the election in 1952 , but retired there after losing back.
Since then, only Lyndon B. Johnson would have been able to serve as President for more than eight years. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, he moved up to the office of President as Vice-President and served as President for 14 months for the remainder of the term, which had already elapsed more than two years. He was then elected President in 1964 . If he had not dropped out of the Democratic Party's primaries for the presidential election in 1968 , but had been nominated again as a candidate, he could have been president for a total of nine years in the event of an election victory and an associated further term in office. The in August 1974 after Richard Nixon's resignation as president Incoming Gerald Ford had, however, he was in the presidential election in 1976 was elected, can not reapply for a second full term in 1980 because of Nixon's tenure remained more than two years .
Ratio of the 22nd to the 12th addition
The interpretation of the 22nd Amendment in relation to the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1804, raises questions . The 12th amendment stipulates that a person who cannot be elected president according to the constitution cannot be elected vice-president.
"But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."
"A person who cannot be elected to the office of President under the Constitution may not be elected to the office of Vice President of the United States."
While it is undisputed that, according to the twelfth addition, the requirements for eligibility for presidency - age, citizenship, place of birth in the USA and domicile - are also relevant to the exercise of the office of vice president, it is controversial whether one Person who has been elected President twice but who may then still be elected or appointed Vice-President. Some argue that the 22nd Addendum, combined with the 12th Addendum, means that anyone who has been twice elected president, from both later service as vice president and from a successor to the office of president, from whatever position of U.S. Office system starting - excludes. Others believe that the 12th amendment standardizes the personal qualifications for the position of office, while the 22nd amendment only regulates the eligibility requirements.
Since no president who has been elected twice has sought the office of vice-president since the 22nd amendment came into force, the courts have not yet had the opportunity to resolve the issue.
Criticism of the 22nd addition
Former President Bill Clinton has advocated changing the 22nd Amendment. For example, former presidents who have already been elected to office twice should be allowed to run again after a certain period of time. As a justification, he stated that in times of crisis the country could wish to be led by someone who has already been tried and tested. According to Sherman Adams , Dwight D. Eisenhower reportedly criticized the limitation of the presidential term at a press conference as follows: “The United States should be able to elect any person it wishes to be president; regardless of the number of terms of office that person has already served in the office of President ”. After the end of his tenure, Ronald Reagan also publicly supported the abolition of the 22nd Amendment. Both Clinton and Eisenhower and Reagan were each elected twice to the presidency and were affected by the 22nd Amendment.
Several attempts have been made in recent years to amend or remove the 22nd amendment. They were all unsuccessful.
