The law is only as good as the political will to enforce it.
For some systems, it’s a flaw to exploit. For others, it’s the lever of power.
Still waiting on someone to spend political capital to enforce the law. They will go down in history as the Savior of Democracy(TM).
#SistersInLaw
There is a non-voting House member from DC, but, much like the popular vote, it’s all kinda for show. DC should be a state, but I guess our Government is only cool with throwing them a bone in the form of 23A for now.
This Amendment did not give DC any other form of representation, like a voting seat in the House or Senate.
If DC were a state, they’d probably get the same number of electors as they have now - 3 - so this seems fair right now. It’s kinda sad, though, that the electorate in DC is dependent on whether Wyoming has a baby boom or not.
The Amendment says they can have the number of electors as they should if they were a State, EXCEPT that they can’t have more electors than the least populous state. That state today is Wyoming, with just under 600k people. Washington, DC, has just over 700k people.
With 23A, they now get to have their voices heard…kinda.
I mean, we are talking about choosing electors for the Electoral College, which is not really about hearing the voice of the people. But I digress….
Sadly, though, people who lived in DC - mainly the people who make it work on a daily basis - were disenfranchised from having electors represent them in the Electoral College that chooses our President and VP unless they were registered in an actual State.
This was our nation’s original game of hot potato.
DC was established all the way back in the beginning of the US, mainly because the Founders couldn’t agree where the capital should be. Some States wanted it in their State. Others didn’t want it in their State. While still others did not want it in other certain States.
Amendment 23 performs a kindness to the people living in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Starting with its ratification in 1961, DC residents could now choose electors to represent them in the Electoral College that chooses the President and Vice President.
They had seven years to ratify this amendment, and it took the States 4-ish years to get to the required number. But they got it and it’s law. I just hope we have the political will to uphold it.
The only person who could have run for a third term is long dead - Harry S Truman, who was President when Congress put this amendment forward in 1947 and ratified in 1951. Nobody after 1951 can be allowed to run for President more than twice. No. Body.
This is not unclear.
So, no one - not any person - can be ELECTED President more than twice. And if you somehow got to be President for more than two years without being elected, like because a President died or resigned or was convicted by the Senate and ousted, you also can’t be elected President more than once.
“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 President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
Thus, 22A is pretty straightforward:
FDR did the peaceful part, just not the transfer part.
OG President Washington did one right thing by leaving office after two terms and retiring to Mt. Vernon. He knew we didn’t want a king-like executive serving a lifetime of terms. The peaceful transfer of power has been a positive hallmark of our nation.
Amendment 22 limits the terms of the President, mainly because FDR broke over a century of tradition and ran and won the office of President not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. (Sadly, there is not a word like “thrice” for four. It’s a missed opportunity.)
Are you feeling (Amendment) 22? You should be. It may be the only thing standing in the way of disaster, y’all.
So, ending Prohibition was one good thing came from The Great Depression…
2. They gave this one a seven-year ratification deadline. They sent it to the States in February, and it was ratified by December. It was 1933, so I’m just saying that people really needed a string drink or three to deal with things.
1. It’s super easy to remember - the drinking age is the amendment number!
Raise a glass to Amendment 21! This amendment had one job: to repeal Amendment 18. It did its job beautifully! Prost!
I only have 2 things to say about Amendment 21.
They gave this one 7 years, and even though it is boring and nonsensical, it didn’t even take a year for it to be ratified.
Calm down, Government, and let the process work itself out!
Sections 5 and 6 don’t add anything except those weird timing clauses. I don’t know why they started putting time restrictions on these amendments starting early last century. All of the prior amendments were ratified pretty soon after they were put to the States.
Or it’s saying that the House or Senate can put a hit out on people? It also talks about “the right of choice” devolving on the House and Senate, which is not about abortion, I don’t think? Please revise, Government.
What?? “Provide for the case of death of any persons”?? “From whom the House…may choose a President”?? The diagramming on this one is WILD!!Grammatically, it seems to say dead people can be appointed President (by the House) or VP (by the Senate)?
and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.”
“The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them,