Limbago: Journal of Constitutional Law
Vol. 6 No. 2 (2026): Journal of Constitusional Law

The 22nd And 25th Amendments: Constitutional Succession And Presidential Term Limits

Badawi, Habib (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Jun 2026

Abstract

This study examines the constitutional tension between the 22nd and 25th Amendments to the United States Constitution, analyzing how their structural interaction creates pathways through which presidential term limits may be circumvented through non-electoral succession mechanisms. Integrating constitutional institutionalism, democratic consolidation theory, and power distribution theory, the study conducts a comparative analysis of the two amendments' divergent constitutional grammars—the 22nd Amendment's prohibition on being "elected" more than twice versus the 25th Amendment's mechanisms for "acting as" or "becoming" President through non-electoral succession—and of the 12th Amendment's eligibility clause that constitutionally bridges them. Drawing on American historical precedents and comparative evidence from Latin American presidential systems, the analysis develops a typology of three constitutional succession variants through which a twice-elected president might reassume executive authority without a new electoral mandate, evaluating each through the triadic analytical framework. The study concludes that the 25th Amendment's institutional plasticity represents a constitutionally distinct and structurally more tractable pathway for executive influence than the 22nd Amendment's default-rule design contemplated, and proposes constitutional and legislative reforms to close the inter-amendment gap.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

Limbago

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Environmental Science Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Social Sciences

Description

Limbago: Journal of Constitusional Law (ISSN Online 2797-9040) merupakan terbitan ilmiah berkala bidang hukum konstitusi dan tata negara. Jurnal ini diterbitkan oleh Bagian Hukum Tata Negara Fakultas Hukum Universitas Jambi sebagai media publikasi ilmiah dan diseminasi hasil penelitian bidang hukum ...