You've probably heard the barroom debate or the late-night Twitter thread: could a former president, like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, come back as someone's running mate? It sounds like a political "cheat code." Honestly, it’s one of those questions that seems simple until you actually open the Constitution and realize the Founding Fathers (and the 1950s Congress) left us a bit of a mess.
The short answer is: nobody knows for sure because no one has tried it. But the long answer? That’s where it gets weird.
The Core Conflict: 12th Amendment vs. 22nd Amendment
To understand whether can a two-term president run for vice president, you have to look at a boxing match between two different parts of the U.S. Constitution.
In one corner, we have the 12th Amendment. Ratified in 1804, it basically says that if you aren't "constitutionally ineligible" to be President, you can't be Vice President.
In the other corner, we have the 22nd Amendment, which was passed after FDR broke the two-term tradition and served four. It says "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."
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Notice that word? Elected. ### The Eligibility Loophole
Constitutional scholars like Dan T. Coenen from the University of Georgia have spent way too much time obsessing over this distinction. Here is the logic some experts use to say "Yes, they can":
- Article II Qualifications: To be "eligible" for the Presidency, the Constitution only lists three rules: you must be 35, a natural-born citizen, and a resident for 14 years.
- The Election Ban: The 22nd Amendment doesn't say a two-term president is "ineligible" to be president. It just says they can't be elected to it.
- The Result: If you are still "eligible" but just barred from being "elected," then the 12th Amendment shouldn't technically stop you from being Vice President.
It’s a linguistic needle that lawyers love to thread. Basically, if a former two-term president were appointed to the VP spot or won it on a ticket, they wouldn't be "elected" as President—they’d be elected as Vice President and then succeed to the higher office if the need arose.
Why the "No" Side Might Win
On the flip side, plenty of scholars think this is total nonsense. They argue that "eligible to the office" means you must be able to actually hold the job. If the 22nd Amendment’s whole purpose was to stop people from serving more than two terms, why would the Supreme Court allow a "backdoor" presidency?
Jeremy R. Paul, a law professor at Northeastern, has called the idea "ludicrous." The argument there is that the spirit of the law should trump the literal wording. If the 22nd Amendment says you can't be President a third time, then you shouldn't be allowed to sit one heartbeat away from it.
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Real-World "What Ifs"
We've actually come close to this becoming a real thing. Back in 2015, Hillary Clinton joked in an interview that she had "thought about" picking Bill as her VP, but she followed up by saying he was constitutionally ineligible. She was probably right to avoid the headache. Imagine the legal firestorm if a candidate tried this. The opposition would sue within minutes, and the case would sprint to the Supreme Court.
There are also weird "succession" scenarios. What if a former two-term president becomes Speaker of the House?
- The Speaker is second in line for the Presidency.
- Neither the 12th nor the 22nd Amendment explicitly says a former president can't be Speaker.
- If the President and VP both resigned, that former president would technically become "Acting President."
The law is surprisingly silent on these "designated survivor" style twists.
The Verdict on Running for VP
So, can a two-term president run for vice president? If you are looking for a definitive "Yes" or "No," you won't find it in any law book. You'll only find it in a future Supreme Court ruling.
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If someone tried it today, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would likely have to weigh in first. Then, the courts would have to decide if "elected to the office" and "eligible for the office" are the same thing.
Most political parties are too risk-averse to try it. They don't want their entire campaign to be a constitutional law seminar. It's much easier to just pick a governor from a swing state.
What you should do next:
If you are following a specific political candidate who is floating this idea, look closely at their legal filings. Any serious attempt to put a two-term president on a ticket would require a pre-emptive lawsuit to "clear" their eligibility. Watch the dockets of the D.C. Circuit Court; that’s where the first signs of a real constitutional challenge would appear. For now, treat any "Obama for VP" or "Bush for VP" talk as pure political fiction rather than a settled legal reality.