The United States Constitution’s Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) establishes additional eligibility requirements for presidents who succeed to their predecessors’ unexpired terms and caps the number of times an individual can be elected to the office at two terms.
On March 21, 1947, Congress passed the Twenty-second Amendment and sent it to the state legislatures for ratification.
When the necessary 36 of the 48 states ratified the amendment (Hawaii and Alaska had not yet been accepted as states), the process was finished, and the amendment’s provisions went into effect on February 27, 1951.
Anyone who has been elected president twice is prohibited from being elected again by the amendment. The amendment also forbids a person from winning the presidency more than once if they serve out an unexpired term more than two years.
Although presidential term limits had long been discussed in American politics, the Twenty-second Amendment was a response to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to an unprecedented four terms as president. The topic was given careful thought by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 (with bigger problems, such as who would elect the president and the duties of the president).
The president could only serve one seven-year term, according to an early draft of the US Constitution. In the end, the Framers permitted four-year terms with no cap on the number of presidential elections.
Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, term limits for U.S. presidents were contemplated during the presidencies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline.
Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901, following William McKinley’s assassination (194 days into his second term), and was handily elected to a full term in 1904. He declined to seek a third (second full) term in 1908, but did run again in the 1912 election, losing to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson himself, despite his ill health following a serious stroke, aspired to a third term.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to four terms, was president from 1933 until his death in 1945.
Franklin Roosevelt spent the months leading up to the 1940 Democratic National Convention refusing to say whether he would seek a third term. His vice president, John Nance Garner, along with Postmaster General James Farley, announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. When the convention came, Roosevelt sent a message to the convention saying he would run only if drafted, saying delegates were free to vote for whomever they pleased.
Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican Wendell Willkie, becoming the only president to exceed eight years in office. His decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign. Willkie ran against the open-ended presidential tenure, while Democrats cited the war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent.
Ratification by US states
The 22nd Amendment was ratified by:
Maine: March 31, 1947
Michigan: March 31, 1947
Iowa: April 1, 1947
Kansas: April 1, 1947
New Hampshire: April 1, 1947
Delaware: April 2, 1947
Illinois: April 3, 1947
Oregon: April 3, 1947
Colorado: April 12, 1947
California: April 15, 1947
New Jersey: April 15, 1947
Vermont: April 15, 1947
Ohio: April 16, 1947
Wisconsin: April 16, 1947
Pennsylvania: April 29, 1947
Connecticut: May 21, 1947
Missouri: May 22, 1947
Nebraska: May 23, 1947
Virginia: January 28, 1948
Mississippi: February 12, 1948
New York: March 9, 1948
South Dakota: January 21, 1949
North Dakota: February 25, 1949
Louisiana: May 17, 1950
Montana: January 25, 1951
Indiana: January 29, 1951
Idaho: January 30, 1951
New Mexico: February 12, 1951
Wyoming: February 12, 1951
Arkansas: February 15, 1951
Georgia: February 17, 1951
Tennessee: February 20, 1951
Texas: February 22, 1951
Utah: February 26, 1951
Nevada: February 26, 1951
Minnesota: February 27, 1951
Ratification was completed when the Minnesota Legislature ratified the amendment. On March 1, 1951, the Administrator of General Services, Jess Larson, issued a certificate proclaiming the 22nd Amendment duly ratified and part of the Constitution.
Over the years, several presidents have voiced their antipathy toward the amendment. After leaving office, Harry Truman described the amendment as stupid and one of the worst amendments of the Constitution with the exception of the Prohibition Amendment. A few days before leaving office in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan said he would push for a repeal of the 22nd Amendment because he thought it infringed on people’s democratic rights.
In a November 2000 interview with Rolling Stone, President Bill Clinton suggested that the 22nd Amendment should be altered to limit presidents to two consecutive terms but then allow non-consecutive terms, because of longer life expectancies.
The first efforts in Congress to repeal the 22nd Amendment were undertaken in 1956, five years after the amendment’s ratification. Over the next 50 years, 54 joint resolutions seeking to repeal the two-term presidential election limit were introduced. Between 1997 and 2013, José E. Serrano, Democratic representative for New York, introduced nine resolutions (one per Congress, all unsuccessful) to repeal the amendment.
Donald Trump, having won the 2024 election, will serve as the 47th U.S President, marking his second non-consecutive term.
However, the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids that no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.
Additionally, 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.
Trump had been elected as the 45th president of the United States, serving one full term and losing his bid for re-election in 2020. Presently, he has won the 2024 presidential elections and is serving his second term as president.
Therefore, a pressing question arises: Could Trump Run for President Again in 2028? If he were to run again in 2028, it would violate the 22nd Amendment’s restriction on serving more than two terms as president.
Section 1 of the amendment
Term Limits: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.
Succession Clause: If someone has held the office of President or acted as President for more than two years of a term to which another person was elected, they may only be elected to the presidency once more.
Grandfather Clause: The amendment does not apply to anyone who was holding the office of President at the time it was proposed, allowing current officeholders to complete their terms.
Section 2 of the amendment
Ratification Requirement: The amendment would be inoperative unless ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures within seven years from its submission.
Historical Context
The push for this amendment arose after Roosevelt’s election victories in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, which challenged the long-standing tradition established by George Washington of serving only two terms.
Although few presidents had attempted to serve more than two terms, Roosevelt’s actions prompted fears of an “elective monarchy,” leading to calls for formal limits on presidential terms.
Can Trump become the president of the USA in 2028?
Trump is not eligible to run for president again in 2028 due to the Twenty-second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which limits individuals to two elected terms as president.
This amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…”
Since Trump will have completed his second term after serving from 2024 to 2028, he cannot seek a third term, regardless of whether those terms are consecutive or non-consecutive.
He will join Grover Cleveland as the only U.S. president to serve non-consecutive terms, having previously served from 2017 to 2021 and now being re-elected for 2024.
Thus, Trump’s victory in the 2024 election effectively concludes his eligibility for future presidential elections after his second term ends.
Any legal loopholes that could allow Trump to run again in 2028?
The possibility of Donald Trump running for president again in 2028 is primarily constrained by the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which limits any individual to serving as president for a maximum of two elected terms.
Since Trump has won a second term in the upcoming election, he would be ineligible to run again after that term concludes in 2028.
The debate around whether Trump would run for the presidency in 2028 is a currently ongoing topic; according to the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution, there is a two-term limit for presidents.
This means Trump would not be eligible to run again unless the amendment is repealed or changed. However, Trump’s influence on the Republican Party may continue to shape future elections even if he does not run himself.
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