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Should the president be allowed to serve more than two terms? U.S. Representative
Steny Hoyer (Maryland Congressional District 5) certainly thinks so. Over the past five
years (200-2005), Congressman Hoyer has proposed that the 22nd amendment (which
limits the U.S. presidency to two terms) be repealed. Each time he and his bipartisan
(made up of Republicans and Democrats) group has sponsored a bill, it has died in
committee. As of August 2005, the most recent attempt was the introduction of
H.J.RES.24 on February 17, 2005.
If interested in contacting Congressman Hoyer’s office to request an explanation of why
he would like to see the 22nd amendment repealed, the contact information is below.
Washington Office
1705 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone - (202) 225-4131
Fax - (202) 225-4300
Greenbelt Office
Serving Prince George's, Anne Arundel and Calvert Counties
U.S. District Courthouse
6500 Cherrywood Lane, Suite 310
Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone - (301) 474-0119
Fax - (301) 474-4697
People disagree about whether or not getting rid of presidential term limits would be
good for the country.
Although the 22nd amendment did not officially became part of the Consitution until 1951,
supporters of the amendment believe that it ensures the Framers’ vision of the U.S.
president not becoming a dictator, such as a king.
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Twenty-second Amendment to the United States
Constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a two-term limit for the
President of the United States. Prior to the adoption of the amendment, the Constitution set no limit on
the number of presidential terms. The United States Congress proposed the Amendment on March 21,
1947. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 27, 1951.
Text
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.
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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.
Term limits
George Washington, the first President of the United States, is often said to have established the
tradition of limiting service as President to two terms only. His Farewell Address, however, suggests
that it was because of his age that he did not seek re-election. More accurately, one may suggest that
Thomas Jefferson established the convention of a two-term limit; he noted, "if some termination to the
services of the chief Magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office,
nominally four years, will in fact become for life". Jefferson’s immediate successors, James Madison
and James Monroe, also adhered to the two-term principle.
Few Presidents attempted to serve for more than two terms. Ulysses S. Grant sought a third term in
office after serving from 1869 to 1877, but his party failed to nominate him. Theodore Roosevelt, who
served from 1901 to 1909, sought to be elected in 1912 (non-consecutively) for a second time—he had
succeeded to the presidency on William McKinley's assassination and already been elected in 1904 to a
full term himself—but he lost to Woodrow Wilson. In 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first
person to be elected President three times, with supporters citing the war in Europe as a reason for
breaking with precedent. In the 1944 election, during World War II, he won a fourth term, but died in
office the following year.
After Franklin Roosevelt's death, many desired to establish a firm constitutional provision barring
presidents from being elected more than twice. The rationale was a concern that without limits, the
presidential position could become too similar to that of a benevolent dictator lasting not just four years
but a lifetime, that the position could become too powerful and upset the separation of powers, and even
so powerful that elections would become dispensable. Hence, the Twenty-second Amendment was
adopted.
Under the amendment, no person may be elected president more than twice. Furthermore, no vice
president or other person who has succeeded to the presidency, and served as president or acting
president for more than two years, may be elected president more than once. Consequently, the
amendment, while limiting a person to two elected four-year terms as president, theoretically does allow
a person to serve up to ten years in office. If a person serving as vice president succeeds to the
presidency, and serves for less than two years of the original president's term, he or she may still be
elected twice and thus serve a total of ten full years in office.
Application
As of 2005, four of the ten presidents to take office since the amendment was ratified had reached the
limit of their eligibility for election by being elected twice: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald
Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Current president George W. Bush is serving his second term in office, and so
is not eligible to run for re-election in 2008 because of the Twenty-second amendment.
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Only one President, as of 2005, has been eligible to serve more than eight years under the amendment:
Lyndon Johnson, who served less than two years of John F. Kennedy's term (14 of 48 months), and who
was then elected in 1964. Although Johnson dropped out of the Democratic Party primaries, had he won
the nomination and the 1968 Presidential election he could potentially have served as President for over
nine years.
22nd and 12th Amendments, "eligibility"
Some have questioned the interpretation of the Twenty-second Amendment as it relates to the Twelfth
Amendment, ratified in 1804, which provides that anyone constitutionally ineligible to the office of
President is ineligible to that of Vice President: "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of
President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."
While it is clear that under the Twelfth Amendment the original constitutional qualifications of age,
citizenship, and residency apply to both the President and Vice President, it is unclear if a two-term
President could later be elected—or appointed—Vice President. Some argue that the Twenty-second
Amendment and Twelfth Amendment bar any two-term President from later serving as Vice President
as well as from succeeding to the Presidency from any point in the United States Presidential line of
succession. Others contend that that the Twelfth Amendment concerns qualification for service, while
the Twenty-second Amendment concerns qualifications for election.
Since the ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment, no two-term President has later sought to
become Vice President, and thus, the courts have never had an opportunity to decide the question.
Criticism of amendment
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has recently voiced his opinion in favor of modifications to the 22nd
Amendment. According to President Clinton, former presidents who have already served two terms
should be allowed to run for the office again, after some interim period has passed. He reasoned the
country may wish to trust leadership onto an already tried and proven candidate in times of great need.
Sherman Adams quotes Dwight Eisenhower expressing in a press conference his strong opposition to
term limits: "The United States ought to be able to choose for its President anybody it wants, regardless
of the number of terms he has served" ("First Hand Report", 1961, p. 296). After leaving office, Ronald
Reagan also publicly supported repealing the amendment. Clinton, Eisenhower, and Reagan were all
affected by the 22nd Amendment, as they all served two terms.
Frequent attempts have been made, in recent years one or more per session of Congress, to modify or
repeal the 22nd Amendment; none has yet been successful.
References
•
•
Constitution of the United States.
Neale, Thomas H. (2001). "Presidential and Vice Presidential Terms and Tenure."
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External link
•
•
National Archives: 22nd Amendment
H.J.RES.24 - The latest bill introduced in Congress proposing to repeal the 22nd
Amendment. There have been many similar proposals introduced in previous Congresses,
none of which have been acted on by Congress. This proposal remains in committee.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 17, 2005
CONTACT:
Stacey Farnen Bernards
(202) 225 - 3130
Hoyer Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Repeal 22nd Amendment
Resolution Would Repeal Two-Term Limit for President, Restore Power to the People
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) introduced bipartisan legislation today
to repeal the 22nd amendment, which states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the
President more than twice.” Representatives Berman (D-CA), Pallone (D-NJ), Sabo (D-MN) and
Sensenbrenner (R-WI) joined Hoyer in sponsoring the resolution.
Representative Hoyer released the following statement regarding the resolution:
“I introduced today a joint resolution to repeal outright the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. The 22nd
Amendment requires that no person who has served two terms, or who has served more than two years of another
President’s term and their own elected term, be permitted to serve another term of office.
“The time has come to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, and not because of partisan politics. While I
am not a supporter of the current President, I feel there are good public policy reasons for a repeal of this
amendment. Under the Constitution as altered by the 22nd Amendment, this must be President George W. Bush’s
last term even if the American people should want him to continue in office. This is an undemocratic result.
“Under the resolution I offer today, President Bush would not be eligible to run for a third term. However, the
American people would have restored to themselves and future generations an essential democratic privilege to elect
who they choose in the future.
“A limitation on the terms that a President could serve was not fully discussed by the Founding Fathers. However,
Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Paper 72, recognized that one important benefit of not having term limits on the
President would be:
“to enable the people, when they see reason to approve of his conduct, to continue him in the station in order to
prolong the utility of his talents and virtues, and to secure to the government the advantage of permanency in a
wise system of administration.”
“After President George Washington retired after serving two terms, a custom emerged that was not broken until
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms. The people chose President Roosevelt because they
desired trusted and effective leadership.
“We do not have to rely on rigid constitutional standards to hold our Presidents accountable. Sufficient power
resides in the Congress and the Judiciary to protect our country from tyranny. As the noted attorney and counsel to
Presidents, Clark Clifford, said:
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“I believe we denigrate ourselves as an enlightened people, and our political process as a whole, in imposing on
ourselves still further disability to retain tested and trusted leadership. The Congress and the Judiciary are now and
will remain free to utilize their own countervailing constitutional power to forestall any executive overreaching.”
“Furthermore, a ‘lame duck’ President serving in his second term is less effective dealing with the Congress and the
bureaucracy than a President should be. I do not believe that the people want a popularly chosen President who will
be weakened in a second term. The removal of the President from politics as prescribed by the 22nd Amendment
has the effect of removing the President from the accountability to political forces that come to bear during regular
elections every four years.
“The 22nd Amendment reflects a fundamental distrust of the judgment of the American people. However, trust of
the good sense of the people is one of the cornerstones of democracy.
“In 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not
enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them,
but to inform their discretion.”
“I believe the repeal of the 22nd Amendment will restore power to the people themselves and make our Constitution
more democratic. I hope my colleagues will join me in this effort.”
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