Can a former two term President be Vice President?

I believe the answer is no - not merely belief but I am correct. The Vice President when swearing in must be able to perform all duties required of him, including taking the office of President should he become a "lame duck".

If he already has fulfilled his maximum limit of terms then he is unable to perform that duty and therefore can not be a Vice President.

Thats great to know your right, however I ask you to provide proof of your assumption. There are many law forums, law schools and other institutions out there that has hashed this question for 200 years. There is going to have to be a challenge toward the judicial rulings to determine if the 12 amendment can propel a once two term president into the vice-president postion and onto a third term if circumstances are proper.
Just because we believe in something it does not automatically become true! Its a good question that has been argued here in other threads.
Two people see a boat and each man has a opinion. One sees a fast boat the other sees a sleek boat. Which man is right!
Remember that opinions are a belief stronger than impression and less strong than postive knowledge. Thus, we need a judgement of whether a former two term president can be a vice-president by way of a formal legal statement by a expert or several experts after careful review which has not happened in two hundred years.

I would believe you are correct, although this issue has never came before the Supreme Court before. Here are the parts of the Constitution that I think would prevent it:

From Amendment XXII

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.

From Amendment XII

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
including taking the office of President should he become a "lame duck".

A 'lame duck' is what the sitting president is after the winner of the next presidency has won the electoral vote. He is a 'lame duck' for the end of his presidency, because there is another guy out there who is going to take up the presidency, and he basically doesn't have any of the political swing that he used to. The VP doesn't suceed to the presidency when the president is a 'lame duck'.


A 2 term president isn't barred from being VP becuase of any inability in performing the duties of the VP. Anyone is barred from becomming VP if they can't become the president (so no non-native born individuals, 15 year olds, etc).

Originally posted by Nygdan
A 2 term president isn't barred from being VP becuase of any inability in performing the duties of the VP. Anyone is barred from becomming VP if they can't become the president (so no non-native born individuals, 15 year olds, etc).

You are correct in that a strict interpretation of the Constitition would be that a 2-term president is only barred from being elected president, not serving as president in a term where someone else was elected president but resigned, died, or otherwise incapacitated. The same question could be extended to Speaker of the House (3rd in line) etc...

That's why I said the issue hasn't come up before the courts before and I don't know if the Presidential succession acts deal with such a situation. I know that if someone in the line of succession spelled out by law, anyone ineligible to become president (like a naturalized citizen) is skipped.

[edit on 9/28/2006 by djohnsto77]

There is going to have to be a challenge toward the judicial rulings to determine if the 12 amendment can propel a once two term president into the vice-president postion and onto a third term if circumstances are proper.

Well, first of all, no one is ever "propelled" into the Vice-Presidency. There is no line of succession to the VP spot, only to the Presidency.

Seems to me that the 12th Amendment clearly prevents anyone not eligible for the Presidency being elected or appointed Veep.

Originally posted by Tuning Spork
Well, first of all, no one is ever "propelled" into the Vice-Presidency. There is no line of succession to the VP spot, only to the Presidency.

That's not true, there is a legal framework for it, but it's not in the Constitution. If the VP position is vacated for some reason, the President appoints a new one and is confirmed by majority vote of both houses of Congress.

That's how Gerald Ford became President without being elected as president nor vice president by an electoral college.

[edit on 9/28/2006 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by djohnsto77

That's not true, there is a legal framework for it, but it's not in the Constitution.

I think the 25th amendment to the Constitution covers this situation.
I'll go do some reading....

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
I think the 25th amendment to the Constitution covers this situation.
I'll go do some reading....

Yes you are right, I don't know what I was thinking

I guess I got that confused with the situation of both President and Vice President being vacated at the same time.

Oh geeeeze .. I can just picture President Hillary and Vice President Bill.

Seriously though, usually the VP is someone who the party will want to run for president when their term as VP is up. That's usually what the party wants, so the person sort of already has a foot in the door.

I doubt that anyone would pick a former president to be Vice President. It's 'coming down' for the former president and it puts down a road block for that party having a foot in the door in future elections.

I found conflicting wordings of the 12th amendment (I've come down on DJ's side before) so I went to the source: High resolution scan of the 12th amendment

It says

"any person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President of the United States shall be ineligible to the office of Vice President of the United States"

In other words, the 12th amendment doesn't really apply only to elections it turns out.

Originally posted by The Vagabond
In other words, the 12th amendment doesn't really apply only to elections it turns out.

But what makes a person who's been President for two terms "Constitutionally ineligible"?

The only thing is the 22nd Amendment:

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.

There it definitely says "elected". For someone reading the Constitution from an originalist viewpoint, I would say it is meant that no one can serve as president for 10 years or more. But the courts rarely view the constitution in that way, so who knows what they'd come up with in the hypothetical case of a former two-term President serving as Speaker of the House and both the President and Vice President dying in office at the same time. Would that Speaker become President or not?

Yeah, you're right. I felt like I was missing something and checked 3 times before my last post, yet somehow I skimmed over the operative word there each time.
This really isn't my day, in a number of ways.