Can Inpeached Presidents Run for President Again
Side by side calendar week US voters will choose betwixt the two oldest presidential candidates in history —Joe Biden at 77 or Donald Trump at 74.
In 2016, Trump made history as the oldest person to presume office at 70 years old.
If Joe Biden is elected, he'll break that tape at historic period 78.
While American electors don't have much selection this year, it'southward already being speculated that the 2024 ballot could usher in a younger generation of political candidates.
Nosotros already saw the beginnings of this younger energy this year, when Democrats Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard ran in the Democratic primary anile in their late 30s.
If Joe Biden is elected in 2020 simply opts not to run for a second term, 31-twelvemonth-old Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (often called AOC) is touted as another 2024 candidate.
Built-in on Oct thirteen, 1989, she would be 34 years one-time for all simply three weeks of the 2024 presidential race, and would have just turned 35 by election twenty-four hours.
But is that also young? How young is too immature to run for president of the United States, and when does the dominion kick in?
The over 35 dominion
Article II of the US constitution says candidates must be 35 years onetime to take part as president.
To exist a senator you lot accept to be xxx, and to exist a member of the House of Representatives you must be 25.
Those rules haven't inverse for over 200 years — they were written into the constitution in 1787, and came into effect in 1789.
Does the age dominion apply from election day, or inauguration day?
It applies on inauguration solar day — which these days is usually Jan xx, in the year following the election.
That means a candidate tin can entrada in a primary race, be nominated as their party's candidate, and fifty-fifty be elected to the presidency at 34 years old — equally long as they'll be 35 by the date they take part.
Dorsum in the 1972 election, one virtually unknown Delawarean senator-elect reached this age minimum by the tightest of margins.
Joe Biden was 29 when he was elected, and had just turned 30 by the time he was sworn in.
If Ocasio-Cortez did run for president in 2024 and won, she'd be 35 years and iii months onetime on January 20, 2025.
Who was the youngest president?
The youngest person to assume the presidency was Theodore Roosevelt, who got the job aged 42 when president William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
John F Kennedy remains the youngest person elected every bit president, at 43 years old on inauguration twenty-four hours 1961.
So why 35?
Given US citizens can vote at 18 years quondam, what'south then special about 35?
In Australia, for case, the minimum age to stand at whatever level of government is 18.
That's the rule in other democracies, similar Canada, New Zealand, the Uk, and many European nations.
The founding fathers mostly agreed historic period minimums were a adept idea
During the drafting of the constitution, delegates to the 1787 United states Constitutional Convention didn't discuss the presidential age limit, simply did have a brief back-and-forth almost the proposed age minimum in the Firm.
Their arguments basically boiled down to (1) your opinions go more than sophisticated as y'all get older and (2) we need our political representatives to have time to establish some stature and continuing in the community.
George Stonemason — who ultimately refused to sign the constitution — said his ain personal opinions at age 21 "were too crude and erroneous to merit an influence on public measures".
Founding begetter James Wilson didn't agree, saying an age minimum would "damp the efforts of genius, and of laudable ambition", citing respected politicians in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland who had attained office in their early 20s.
James Madison subsequently justified requiring senators to exist older than House members, saying "senatorial trust" required a "greater extent of information and stability of character" that developed with age.
Funnily enough, many of the ramble drafters weren't themselves 35 when they wrote the constitution — more than than a dozen of the delegates were under 35, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
It may have been to avoid creating family dynasties
Ane of the major reasons Americans wanted to cut their ties with Great Uk was to get rid of the monarchy.
The presidential historic period minimum may therefore have been an attempt to avert creating a monarch-like succession of power from parent to child.
Back in the 18th century, it was extremely unlikely a president's children would take turned 35 past the fourth dimension he left function subsequently ane or ii terms.
It may have worked: while there have been four instances where ane family unit produced multiple presidents, there has never been a father whose son immediately replaced him as the subsequent president.
Has the rule always been challenged?
There have been a few senators and Firm representatives over the years who sneaked in slightly before reaching the requisite age, seemingly without consequences.
Parties take attempted to get out of age rules in various ways. In 1934, 29-twelvemonth-one-time senator-elect Rush Holt was forced to wait six months, until his 30th altogether, before being sworn in equally a senator.
In 2012, 27-year-one-time Californian Peta Lindsay ran equally a presidential candidate for a modest party, but was afterward removed from the certified list of candidates.
She challenged the conclusion, arguing while she agreed she wasn't constitutionally eligible to exist president, it was a violation of her constitutional rights to forestall her from running for the function at all.
A federal appeals court rejected this, arguing to exercise otherwise would mean "anyone, regardless of age, citizenship or any other constitutional ineligibility would be entitled to ataxia and confuse our balloter ballot".
Could the US change the rule?
Constitutional amendment in the Us is a big deal. It requires both the House and the Senate to pass the subpoena's wording at a two-thirds bulk, and then 3-quarters of u.s.a. to ratify it.
Changing the constitution therefore requires a huge groundswell of public pressure and political advocacy before it'south even contemplated.
Information technology's clear that in 2020, voters take other compelling priorities to deal with, and at that place'south no real public push to do anything about the age minimums.
Perchance this will change if a hugely pop underage candidate emerges in the hereafter.
In fact, given this year'south suite of older candidates, some are wondering whether there should be an upper age cap on candidacy — preventing people who are 'too former' from running.
What are the other rules?
The other requirements in the constitution are that the candidate must exist:
- A natural born citizen, and
- A US resident for at least fourteen years
Usa courts take generally interpreted the "natural built-in" wording to mean a president must have been born in the United States, simply take never directly heard a challenge to a presidential candidate's eligibility.
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Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-30/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-president-donald-trump-us-election/12818468
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