Brian Kalt
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
The term limit provision you read says that you can't be elected more than twice, but there are other ways to get into the office through succession, the line of succession.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
Yes. The 12th Amendment says that no one who's not eligible to be president can be eligible to be vice president. But that just gets us back to the question of whether you can be president despite the two term election limit.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
Well, that's much less likely because that requires two-thirds majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate and three-fourths of the state legislatures. And there's just not that much support on bipartisan basis for this, maybe not even among the Republicans, but certainly not among the Democrats. So they just wouldn't have the votes for that.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
I think so. President Trump has shown a willingness in the past to interpret the Constitution in ways that empower him. Lots of people do that, but he's been particularly generous aggressive. And these interpretations of the Constitution that allow these loopholes are not as outlandish as some of the theories that he's advanced about other things.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
So I think it really is a serious issue that people should start thinking about. But presumably it will be tested in the Supreme Court. Yeah. Well, that's part of the problem, too. It's a little awkward to get this into court because by the time he would get on the ballots and that got litigated, it would be late in the day. There would be people saying, just let the voters decide.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar declares week of mourning as death toll rises following earthquake
And there's also some constitutional awkwardness about the Supreme Court deciding these things instead of Congress. Congress has a role here, too. So that muddies the waters as well and gives him even more of an opening.