Presidents are not allowed to pursue a third term
Presidents are not allowed to pursue a third term
- Fri, Feb 27 2026 at 11:39 AM
Mark,
Presidents are not allowed election to a third term—but that hasn’t stopped President Trump from toying with the idea.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified 75 years ago this week. So CREW took a look at the history:
The amendment was ratified in 1951, following Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four-term presidency. Before FDR, no president was elected to more than two terms, consistent with the norm set by George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
After FDR’s presidency, the country confronted a serious question: should enshrine the two-term norm into law or let it fade away? And would abandoning that tradition be dangerous for American democracy?
The answer was clear: presidential terms and presidential powers needed to be limited. Between 1947 and 1951, the amendment received overwhelming bipartisan support. It was voted out of Congress by a supermajority vote in both chambers. It was ratified by 41 states, five more than necessary to become part of the Constitution.
At a time when Trump and his administration have ignored or attempted to rewrite inconvenient facts and treated the Constitution as optional at best, it’s worth remembering how this amendment came to be—and CREW has the facts.
WATCH & DONATE → In the United States, we have no kings. We made that choice 250 years ago. That's why we have a Constitution and why we have limits like the 22nd Amendment enshrined in our Constitution.
Yet 75 years after its ratification, President Trump and his allies have repeatedly floated the idea that he could run again—making history matter more than ever.
After FDR’s presidency, lawmakers debated the many arguments for and against presidential term limits. They ultimately concluded: no man is indispensable.
Without firm guardrails, they warned, a president could entrench themselves in power by manipulating bureaucracy, leveraging political donations or even manufacturing national emergencies to justify staying in office.
Having just defeated fascism in WWII, one of the biggest concerns lawmakers had was the threat of authoritarianism taking root at home.
Their conclusion was clear: the risk of a president abusing their power to stay in office was far too great. A two-term limit was necessary to ensure that our democracy would not fall.
75 years later, the threat is closer than ever.
As Trump’s administration follows the modern-day authoritarian playbook to terrorize our communities, crack down on opposition and undermine our elections with conspiracy theories and barriers to voting, we know his goal is to consolidate power for himself and his loyalists.
Thanks to our forebears, the Constitution is ready to meet the moment. Our elected leaders swear an oath to defend the Constitution and must be prepared to abide by and enforce it.It is our job, as the public, to make sure they do.
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