U.S. Constitutional Law: Can a person be the President of the United States for more than 8 years?
Yes, a person could certainly be the U.S. President for up to 10 years under the 22nd Amendment, which created presidential term limits. You can be elevated to President without having been elected for up to two years and still be elected to two full terms after that. If you became President without being elected as President for more than two years, you are only eligible to be elected to one additional full term.Another wrinkle is that a President could possibly serve an unlimited number of years if the person continually succeeded to the Presidency. For example, if one person constantly won the office of Vice President or was the Speaker of the House and succeeded as President due to death, resignation, removal, etc. then subsequently did not run for President subsequent to that to get elected to his own full term but instead got another office that let him once again succeed to the Presidency, that person could continually become President for an uncapped number of years.See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twe...
Can a Naturalized Citizen be President of the United States?
You have to look at the time the constitution was written. How many people were natural born citizens of the United States in the late 1700's ? Not many so because they needed leadership they had to include the Citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the constitution, to allow leaders to be elected. The wording is very precise in that to be eligible to be the president, an ordinary person could have been born in Europe but would have had to be a citizen of the United States in 1776. Some one that came to the US in 1777 and became a citizen could not become the president though any of his children that were born in the US could. Today that portion of Article 2 can be eliminated since there is no one alive that was a citizen of the US prior to 1776. This is why all of the current arguments regarding becoming the president simply state that you must be a natural born citizen. Your key focus point should be on the words "at the time of the adoption of this constitution" Hope this helps.. @manoftruth. Sorry sir, you are wrong. Just because the constitution says at the time of adoption, means that on the day that the constitution was adopted you had to be a citizen. If you became a citizen the day after adoption you were ineligible. Anyone that was a citizen prior to the constitution was written up to and including the day it was adopted had the constitutional right to become president. Those were the only US citizens that did not have to be natural born citizens.
Does the USA need presidential election reform??? Our system is outdated!!!?
1. should we abolish the electoral college system described in the US Constitution and simply go for a direct vote for the leader of the executive branch? I have no intentions to dismantling the rest of the democratic republic process we rely upon in voting in Congress and other lower level offices, but the electoral college just seems so-outdated and unnecessary. An individual vote is almost worthless in an EC system. Direct elections. One vote per citizen for the President. 2. Iowa??? New Hampshire??? We're relying on two small states to determine a large portion of the USA political future? The president is the leader for all US citizens and should reflect the majority of voters found throughout the land and not two small-time states of little importance. 3. I envy the British and their election process of a Prime Minister. It lasts only a few weeks. For us, it lasts 1 and a half years now!!! It's overtop and wasteful. It also makes us jaded and apathetic.
Is the length of a president's term set by the constitution?
The original term (four years) was set by the constitution; the two-term limit came much later as an amendment
Can a convicted felon run for President?
Legally? Yes. Effectively? No. US Constitution, Article II, Section 1No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.US Constitution, Amendment XXII, Section 1 - ratified February 27, 1951No 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.There is no restriction against a felon running for the office of the President. Only the Constitution may spell those restrictions and it doesn't address the issue. This is because the Constitution is minimalist in nature; the belief was (and remains) that the individual states' would be sufficient to provide all the additional vetting of the candidates for the Office of the President of the United States. Note: I said nothing about voters. The original intention was that the individual states would choose the method of selecting electors to the Electoral College. Before the age in instantaneous communication and before the office actually came to mean anything (which was instantly upon he election of Washington; but before that, the office of POTUS --while much debated-- was imagined as being of lesser importance than the cherished entities: the individual States respectively), the Electoral College was a means to an end. It allowed the states to decide on their own how their votes would be cast (some would be chosen by the state legislature, some by voters -- it didn't matter). It allowed them to not worry about counting ballots in the nation's capital -- there'd only ever be a few hundred vote-casters. Only after the early 1800's did it become standard to allow the citizens to decide.In the end, it's effectively impossible for a felon to become president, just as it's effectively impossible for anyone under 35 to do so either (though, with the latter, apparently it seemed prudent to address that pressing matter at the time of the ratification of the Constitution).
What does the constitution mean when it says article 2, section 1, clause 1?
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Why are Presidential elections in the USA every 4 years?
The short answer is “it’s in the Constitution” but the more interesting longer answer of “why did they pick 4 years and not some other number?” is that it was a compromise.The Federal government needed regular elections and they wanted the House of Representatives to be very representative and responsive. They chose a two year term for this reason. This was based on the House of Commons in England which had fairly short terms. The Senate is more akin to the House of Lords from England which had no term limits. That wasn’t very democratic though so they just made their terms longer at 6 years. Then there is the President— two years seemed too short. Six years seemed too long. There was an obvious number between them that would align with Congressional elections.
Can anyone answer these questions on The United States Constitution?
Your question was: "Can anyone answer these questions on The United States Constitution?" The only corrcet answer is: Yes, I am sure someone can. The better question would be: Will anyone answer these questions on The United States Constitution?
What are the qualifications for election to the presidency?
Section One of Article II of the U.S. Constitution establishes the requirements one must meet in order to become President. The president must be a natural-born citizen of the United States (or a citizen of the United States at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted), be at least 35 years old, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.