This is all assuming that Trump didn’t sue and SCOTUS ends up with some shoddy, asinine interpretation of the constitution that decides Trump is now president for some reason and they all sail away in someone’s yacht
Harris would be more likely to use that immunity for good use than Biden.
They can use up to 2 years (I think) of a previous term. LBJ could have had 2 full terms plus the remainder he had from JFK.
Other people have answered that it’s two years before it counts as a term. I just want to add that they’ve counted out the exact number of days. They really got this question nailed down.
I’m not a legal expert so take this with a grain of salt. Assuming the Constitution is followed as it currently written…which is a big assumption…
The two-term limitation comes from the 22nd Amendment. This amendment is, in it’s entirety, quoted below:
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.
Concerning Section 2, it was ratified so it is law. Not important to answer our question.
If Joe Biden resigns or is permanently incapacitated right as I post this, then Kamala Harris would become
actingPresident until his term ends on January 20th, 2025 for 157 days, 158 if you count today, which is a far cry from two years. (I believe that she was designated Acting President for a few hours while Biden was getting a colonoscopy, so add that to the tallymaybeprobably not.)So it looks like, if I read the bolded section correctly, she would be eligible to be elected a second time if she took over from Biden should he be incapacitated or resign.
Edited based on feedback.
You are 100% correct, with the one exception that if Biden dies or resigns today, Harris wouldn’t become Acting President, she would become the actual 47th President, and Trump would have to reprint all of his 45-47 hats.
Thanks 👍. I corrected my response.
From doing some quick reading (instead of work, lol) it sounds like as long as there is a human filling the job as President, when the VP steps in it must be in that Acting capacity. So the President could notify Congress ahead of time that he will be temporarily incapacitated due to a medical procedure, and the VP will act as President for that period of time.
Or, if the President becomes incapacitated without giving that advanced notice, the VP (along with a majority of the President’s cabinet) can notify Congress of that fact, and the the VP can assume the Acting President role. Then the President simply informs Congress when he is better again. If there is any dispute over that between the President and VP, Congress gets to ultimately decide whether the President is still incapable, although it would take a 2/3 vote of both Houses to render him incapable.
There seems to be absolutely no difference in terms of the powers of “Acting President” vs. “Actual President”. However, since the Acting President is normally a temporary role, one would think that they wouldn’t be signing legislation or making appointments unless the President is incapacitated for a long time, since that would piss off their boss.
Dick Cheney just wrote letters to his grandkids while he was Acting President, just to be able to sign them “Acting President”.
https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/cheney-pens-letter-while-acting-as-potus
As a follow up, to get a third (and more) term would it be possible to run for vp and have a contract with someone who agrees to run for president then resign immediately after inauguration, or is there a law against that?
Obviously she would have to resign six months early.
I pasted the entire 22nd Amendment into my reply to this post. The “trigger” isn’t the numerical value of 8 years total, it’s the numerical value great than 2 years served.
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.
I think the SCOTUS would just come up with a reason why she can’t.
Let’s give her large majorities in congress, then she can fix the court.
Let’s give her a supermajority so she can do some spring cleaning and get rid of Missouri too.
It would be interesting to see the Supreme Court try to enforce that on the person who has the ability to suspend habeas corpus and have them all arrested.
