Bill Clinton can't be Vice President - I think....

[Bread and Circus]

Occasionally it has been bandied about to have Bill Clinton
run as Vice President with Kerry.

Frankly, I am not sure what good that would do nor would I want
that to happen. Clinton was fine for his time but we need to "move
on".

Funnily, I was reading the Constitution today...you'd be amazed
how Bushco. has trounced all over it...and I came across Amendment
XII. The last line states: "But no person constitutionally ineligible
to the office of the President shall be eligible to that of the
Vice-President of the United States."

Clinton reached his term limit but I forget whether term limits
are in the Constitution or not. If not, then that's just kind of
interesting. If so, then it rules him out as being Constitutionally
elibible for VP.

Any Constitutional or legal scholars want to help me here?

[Kathleen04]

1. You're allowed to serve two terms, not to exceed 10 years

so theoretically if something were to happen to Senator Kerry, Clinton would be able to serve up to 2 years..

[mobuto]

2. Its a little murky

because you could say that Clinton isn't ineligible to be President, he's just ineligible to be elected President. The 22nd Amendment bars Clinton from running for President again, but there are a number of ways he could still become President - if he held a cabinet position or was a senior Congressional figure, he'd be in line to the Presidency.

That said this is all irrrelevent, because there's no way in hell Kerry would ever pick Clinton.

[NoMoreRedInk]

7. That argument is akin to the "establishment clause" argument

Is it the letter or the spirit? Who knows?

[tedoll78]

15. My argument..

is that the authors of the 22nd Amendment were excellent legal wordsmiths. I think they deliberately chose "elected" instead of "holding the office", leaving wide-open the other route to the presidency (succession). If the authors of the 22nd Amendment wanted the spirit to apply, they were more than able word-wise to communicate this more clearly; instead, they left this loophole open.

If Kerry were to win and make Bill Clinton his Secretary of State, and if some event were to happen such that he were next in the line of succession, the 22nd amendment would not prevent Clinton from returning to the Oval Office. Thus, he's eligible to the office of the Presidency, and thus, his being in the VP spot would be consistent with both the 12th and 22nd Amendments.

[FARAFIELD]

3. Its never been decided

The constitution simply bars someone from being eleceted MORE Than twice. Since the constitutionally the VP's requirements are the same as the presidents, i would assume that if it were ever tried that it wouldnt be allowed. Although simply being in line for the presidency after VP shouldnt DQ anyone.

[HEFFA]

4. The Constitution itself only requires that a President be

native born, at least 35 years of age, and that he/she has lived in the country for at least 14 years prior to their election. The 22nd Amendment, as it is worded, does seem to leave the prospect of a Clinton Vice-Presidency open. The language is somewhat vague on this particular issue, because he has been elected President twice, and yet he wouldn't be seeking that office again. Interesting....

Read here: (at bottom of page)
http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20021127amendment_22p9.asp

[Hippo_Tron]

5. I think the SCOTUS would say no...

But it definately could be argued either way.

[mmm]

6. Yes, he can be VP. And he is the best possible choice.

[Bread and Circus]

9. ???

[patricia92243]

10. Bill or Hill would guarantee us the election.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Padraig18]

8. The only thing that makes sense is to read them together.

The 12th Amendment was (obviously) first, so the 22nd Amendment must be read in light of it. One can make an argument that the 22nd doesn't explicitly prohibit serving as VP under the terms of the 12th, but is that a reasonable construction?

I don't think the Big Dog can, personally...

[Hippo_Tron]

12. It's sketchy. I don't think everybody ever thought of this possibility...

Generally former presidents spend the rest of their careers make assloads of money giving lectures/speeches, writing books, presenting awards to people, etc.

[elperromagico]

13. My opinion: He could serve as VP,

but if something happened to Kerry less than two years into his term, Clinton could not serve out the remainder of the term. And if something happened over two years into Kerry's term, Clinton could only serve out the remainder of the term, and not run for a full term afterwards.

All told, I think Bill Clinton for VP is an interesting but bad idea. It opens us up to allegations that Clinton is running the government. I think we've had enough of the VP running the government for the last three years, don't you?

[rasputin1952]

14. Amendment XXII: ratified Feb 27, 1951

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 the 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 be applied to any person holding the Office of the President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the Office of the 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 the seven years from the date of its submission to the States by Congress.


OK...........there you go......have at it!

:)