Valerie
Platinum Member
- Sep 17, 2008
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[MENTION=3135]jillian[/MENTION]
hey jill, if hillary runs for president, i am wondering whether she could have bill as her VP or secretary of state...? are there rules limiting ex presidents from such positions??
hey [MENTION=11971]Valerie[/MENTION] nah.. .bill can't be her VP because you have to be eligible to be president to be VP. Secretary of State... he could, but I doubt he'd want that and doubt his health is good enough for that.
thanks, i just dug up this old article on the topic...
lol @ VP Bill? Depends on Meaning of 'Elected'
The prospective presidential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton has given rise to plenty of speculation about the notion of Bill Clinton as the nation's first gentleman. But what about another role? How about, say, vice president?
...
As the former president might say, it all depends on the meaning of the word "elected." Under Article II of the Constitution, a person is "eligible to the Office of President" as long as he or she is a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old and a resident of the United States for 14 years. The 12th Amendment says "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President."
Okay, so that means if you're not eligible to be president, you're not eligible to be vice president. Makes sense. What would be the point of electing a vice president who can't succeed the president in case of death, incapacity or vacancy?
But then Congress and the states added the 22nd Amendment in 1951 to prevent anyone from following the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won four terms. That's where things get dicey. "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice," the 22nd Amendment says.
On its face, that seems to suggest that Clinton could be vice president because he is only barred from being elected president a third time, not from serving as president.
VP Bill? Depends on Meaning of 'Elected'