NationStates Jolt Archive

Soley hypothetical, but serious question... Everyone keeps talking about Hillary Clinton running in 08, and every once in a while someone says her husband should run as her running mate. Is that possible? Given the order of succession in the U.S. Consititution, could Bill Clinton serve as Vice President, being that he would be the first successor when/if the President were to be assasinated? My guess would be no..

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Bill would be the First Lady. :D

im thinking that the vp has to have the same qualifications as the pres. so no, he wouldnt be eligible for vp. same as someone born outside the US can be in the cabinet or congress but cant be vp.

The idea of Hillary as president .... ugh.... can't go on.... :rolleyes:

As I understand it, Bill Clinton could not be Vice President because he no longer qualifies to hold the office of the Presidency under the 22nd Amendment. Same reason why someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger can't be VP. Now that's what I've heard said by many pundits, and I've seen it written as well, but there are people currently in the chain of succession--far down the list admittedly, but in there--who don't qualify to be President either, usually because of their place of birth, so I can't say absolutely. At the very least, if Bill Clinton could be VP, I don't believe he could succeed to the Presidency if President Hillary were to die.

Technically, the 22nd Ammendment reads: 'No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.', so I'm betting that a lawyer could make a good case for it, however there was some discussion of this bandied about when some were pressing Kerry to select Billy-Bob as veep candidate and Cigar-boy brushed them off for what he stated were Constitutional reasons. Frankly though, I just don't think he was interested in that campaign or wasn't going to say anything that could be construed as him sucking up for the job

That leads to the 12th Amendment, which states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States."

So the legal battle would fall on whether the 22nd Amendment an "eligibility" requirement, or just an electoral limitation. Article II of the Constitution is where it defines who is eligible to be president and lists the only requirements to be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old, who has been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years. It says nothing about term limits.


Still, it has not been tested before the courts so who the fuck knows.

It would certainly not preclude him from an appointed cabinet position that resides within the succession as the issue of what he was elected to would not come into play.

So Billy for SecState would be perfectly ok.