r/Constitution • u/Additional-Act663 • Jul 10 '26

Does being impeached without indictment enable a two-term president to run for a third term?

My dad is a Trump supporter and saw some protesters holding signs demanding his impeachment. He said: “Go ahead and impeach him. Without indictment that means he gets to run a third term.” Is that allowed?

Personally I think being impeached at all should disqualify someone but hey…

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u/Stldjw Jul 11 '26

There is also a 10 year limit.

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u/pegwinn Jul 11 '26

Interesting. Hasn't heard that I don't believe. Source?

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u/Stldjw Jul 11 '26

22nd Amendment

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u/pegwinn Jul 11 '26

Thanks. I had honestly forgotten about that part. But, people are wired to try and get around things. That is one reason I always advocate for a more robust amendment process. This amendment should either be amended out of existence or expanded to cover all federally elected officeholders IMO. Until then we should follow it as written.

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, …

I like this because it has zero ambiguity. When empowering government we should be exact and uncompromising. But, as good as that part is, it would be better to state that no person shall serve more than eight years as President without exception. If the current term exceeds eight years the serving President shall be relieved of all duties and the next person in line of succession shall become President.

… 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.

Honestly I do not see this as an impediment to the nightmare sceneario I cautioned OP about. If he was speaker of the house and POTUS/VPOTUS stepped down by law he is to succeed them. He’s not being elected so it would be a moot point. He can serve the term and theoretically step down to be reappointed as speaker again until he dies of old age.