Bill Clinton as VP? Yes, it would be constitutionally legal...

[wyldwolf]

About once a month or so, someone starts a thread asking if Bill Clinton could be a VP candidate. Invariably, people chime in with "it wouldn't be constitutionally legal" and such.

Well, I'm no constitutional scholar, Michael C. Dorf is and, according to him, it would be pefectly legal.

In my mind, based on his explanation, the matter is sufficiently put to rest:

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20000731.html

[Florida_Geek]

1. That is one man's opinion

Anyway, even if Kerry tried it would end up in the SC. And you know the outcome there.

[wyldwolf]

3. Well sure it is his opinion...

..but I trust his credentials on the matter more than anyone here who would say it wasn't constitutional.

[tedoll78]

2. I've been making that argument forever..

And my Constitutional Law professor told me it's correct, in his opinion..

---

There are two routes to the Presidency:
1) election
2) succession

The 22nd Amendment places limits on only Route #1. Check it out:
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.

Note this scenario in which Bill Clinton is eligible to hold the office of President via route #2:
Kerry wins in 2004 and Bill Clinton becomes his Secretary of State. In the 2006 State of the Union address, everyone ahead of Bill Clinton is killed in a bomb attack on the House chambers. Clinton, deliberately chosen to be the one who stays away from the speech for exactly such an event, in the next person in the line of succession, and thus is sworn-in.

So, I've established that Clinton is indeed eligible to hold the office of President. This makes him eligible to be a candidate for the Vice Presidency, since the Constitution requires him to be eligible to hold the office of President, which is different from being eligible to be elected to the office of President.

It's something of a linguistic exercise, but the words of the 22nd Amendment were very deliberately chosen.

[Drifter]

4. According to that ...

AWOL can run in 2008 if he wins 2004, since he has yet to be elected.

Not sure I want that wording "loophole" to be exercised.

Cheers
Drifter

[tedoll78]

5. Actually..

he was formally elected in 2000, much to our chagrin. The Senate went through the proper process and whatnot..

But he could pick a stooge as the Presidential candidate in 2008, run as his VP, win election, and have the stooge resign effective 1 hour into the presidency. That's legally possible. Especially if Bush has dirt on someone who could fill the stooge's slot.

[IronLionZion]

11. sure except Bush is the stooge

for president Cheney

[mantis49]

6. I've been having pleasant fantasies about a Clinton role

in the Kerry administration. How about Secretary of State?

Or Ambassador to the UN?

Sec of State would allow him to get involved big time, especially with Israel/ Palestinians, which (whoever?) knows we need.

And foreign heads of state love him, too.

[Victimerican]

7. who doesn't love Clinton?

Besides your average bush fan? :>

And I agree, if Clinton were to take a position in the Kerry govt, I'd rather see him doing something to repair the damage Bush has done to our foreign relations. If anyone can do it in 4/8 years, it's him.

[Padraig18]

8. I still disagree.

The Constitution plainly states that no one not eligible to be President can be Vice-President. Bill Clinton is not eligible to be President. Case closed, lawyers be damned...

[TahitiNut]

9. Would he be eligible to be Speaker of the House?

If you'd read the aritcle, you'd understand that the blackletter reading of the 22nd says "elected" ... and, in no way, makes him ineligible to again hold the office. Stated more clearly, the 22nd doesn't make him ineligible, it makes him unelectable. If, for example, he held the office of Speaker of the House and (tragically, of course) ascended to the office of the Presidency due to the death of the President and Vice President, there's NOTHING that would prevent him from taking office.

The same situation would hold true if he were a Cabinet Officer. (In the same sense, he'd be eligible to be Vice President.)

[Padraig18]

12. I did read the article.

I still disagree. The interpretation is fanciful, at best, and his argument is not strong, but bootstrapped.

[IronLionZion]

10. Honey, if that was for real

then he would already be VP and Gore would be Pres and Dubya would still be in Texas. It would be nice but won't happen

[Dookus]

13. Not put to rest

that is one opinion. The problem lies in the fact that there are two conflicting portions of the constitution. One portion says no one shall be "elected" more than twice, but another says the VP must meet the requirements to be President.

In cases where such conflicts occur, the courts decide. I believe ANY court would rule, unanimously, that the intent of the 22nd Amendment was very clear, and since it comes later than the other stipulation, it's the one that counts.

Fortunately, nobody is stupid enough to try pushing this issue.