by Dr. Larry Moses
No one asked me but… A rather interesting question flowed through my mind the other day. If nominated, who would Hillary select to be her Vice-President?
I can’t believe she would select Barrack Obama and I am sure he is politically astute enough to refuse the nomination if it were offered. John Edwards would probably accept the position but, by obviously siding with Obama during the New Hampshire debates, he has probably excluded himself from her consideration.
Bill Richardson, probably one of the most qualified people to be President, has dropped out of the race and he might make a great Vice-President. He certainly did nothing to offend Hillary in his abbreviated campaign.
But here is an interesting question: How about another Bill—Bill Clinton? While Bill has probably done more to offend Hillary than any of the present candidates; that was personal not political. If Hillary can forgive and forget, who are we to hold a grudge? The question becomes: Does he qualify for the Vice Presidency?
To answer this question, I went directly to the Constitution (Ron Paul would be so proud of me). Interestingly enough, in the original document there are no qualifications set forth for the Vice-President. It may have been assumed that they would be the same as those for the President: Article II Section 1 paragraph 5 of the United States Constitution states the qualification for the Presidency as follows: “No 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 for the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.” The qualifications for the Vice-President is dealt for the first time in Amendment XII passed in 1804, almost as an after thought. “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
This amendment came about, you will recall, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran on the same ticket. Jefferson was to be President, and Aaron Burr was to be the Vice-President. Their supporters in the electoral college each had two votes and they cast one for Jefferson and one for Burr. The two tied with 73 votes each. While it was understood Jefferson was to be President Burr realized that the Constitution gave him another shot at the office and he demanded the tie be broken in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives elected Jefferson President and Aaron Burr Vice-President. The Twelfth Amendment was passed requiring electors to designate a vote for the President and a vote for the Vice-President.
Aaron Burr was the fellow who went on to shoot Washington’s Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel and was later tried for treason. Since he could not be President, Burr went west to start his own country. Some spoilsport decided that this was an act of treason. He was not convicted as the treasonous act was only planned and no overt act had been committed. But that is a story for another day.
If the President was to die and the Vice-President was to take the office it would be logical that he should have to meet the same qualifications to fill the office. However, the founders did not specify that the Vice-President would become the President; they merely stated, “the powers and duties of the said office shall devolve on the Vice-President.”
The Twelfth Amendment does not address this issue either. The question of did the Vice-President become President if the office was vacated during a President’s term first came up in 1841. During a driving rainstorm, President William Henry Harrison, who was 68 years old (if today’s 50 is the new 40, 68 of those days is the new 88.) delivered the longest inaugural address in American history. A reporter of the day stated the address was delivered to a large crowd of umbrellas. President Harrison contracted pneumonia, spent almost his entire term in bed and died a month after taking office. While the Constitution stated the Vice-President would merely assume the duties of the President, Vice-President John Tyler had other ideas. Tyler felt that the power of the title was needed to adequately fulfill the duties of President. He also realized Presidential pay was five times higher than that of the Vice-President, so he had himself sworn in as President. Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson all followed this example, as ascension became tradition if not law.
It was more than 120 years before this issue will be settled by the Constitution. With the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1967, the ascendancy of the Vice-President to President was codified. Amendment XXV, Section 1, paragraph 1 states “In case of the removal, of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice-President shall become President.” While this Amendment alone may not make Bill Clinton ineligible for the Vice Presidency, if it is combined with the 22nd Amendment added in 1951, Bill’s eligibility may come in question. In 1940, with America on the verge of WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt broke the two-term tradition started by George Washington and carried on by succeeding Presidents as he was elected to his third term. In 1944, President Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term. The country fearing the rise of a dictator decided to place term limits on future Presidents.
The Twenty-Second Amendment states “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 shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
You now must combine the Twelfth, Twenty-Second and Twenty-fifth Amendments to see if there is anything to disqualify Bill Clinton. The 25th Amendment definitely states the Vice-President becomes the President. The Twelfth Amendment states: “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of the Vice-President of the United States.” The Twenty-Second Amendment, however, speaks to electability “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…” Is electability the same as eligibility? Does this disqualify Bill Clinton from becoming Vice-President? In the strictest sense of definition, is Bill Clinton ineligible for the office or only ineligible for election to the office of President?
If the only way a person could become President were by election this would definitely disqualify Bill Clinton from the Vice Presidency. But a person can ascend to the Presidency from a number of elected and appointed positions. Those Vice-Presidents who ascended to the Presidency were not elected to the office. Remember Gerald Ford? He was not even elected to the Vice-Presidency.
Bill Clinton would not be elected to the office of President but to the office of Vice-President. If he was to fill the office of President, it would be by ascension rather than election. He has not acted as President for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected and therefore the only provision that limits due to time served does not apply. Since that provision would not make him ineligible for the Presidency, it would not make him ineligible for the Vice Presidency.
If the issue is, the Vice-President is in the line of succession would this exclude Bill Clinton from becoming a Congressman and rising to the rank of Speaker of the House of Representatives because he could end up as President if something happen to both the President and Vice-President. Would he indeed not be able to fill any office that is in the line of succession, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense?
Henry Kissinger served as Secretary of State, but he could not have been President because he was not a natural born citizen of the United States. There are people in the line of succession right now who do not qualify to be the President of the United States because they are not natural born citizens (Number 7, Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce and Number 8, Elaine Chao the Secretary of Labor). What do you do with people filling those positions but are ineligible for the presidency? I assume they would just be skipped.
This whole issue may be just another example of an old retired guy having more time on his hands than is good. Maybe I should take up bridge at the Senior Center? Maybe I could get a job as a night watchman and then I would be too tired to think about things like this. Now for Secretary of State, I wonder what Chelsea is doing for the next four years…..
Thought for the week…The obscure we eventually see. The completely obvious it seems, takes longer.” Edward R. Murrow
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!
Comment on this story. Send a letter to the editor by email, click here: EMAIL US
