“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED,” Trump wrote. “LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution states “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Princeton University constitutional law scholar Deborah Pearlstein said the 22nd Amendment bars Trump from running again “full stop.” If he did try to, she believes state authorities would reject efforts to get his name on the ballot, and if they didn’t he would be quickly challenged in court. The case eventually would go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pearlstein said a recent Supreme Court ruling against an effort to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot in Colorado makes her hesitant to definitively say the court would rule against Trump if he tried to run again, but she believes that the law is “extremely clear.”
“Not even this court could be unaware of the staggering stakes for American democracy if they permitted him to run again,” she said.
Harvard Law School Professor Michael Klarman, who teaches constitutional history, also said the 22nd Amendment is “pretty darn clear.”
“He can’t run again,” Klarman said.
Trump and his supporters continue to talk about another term, though.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn, introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution so Trump can seek a third term.
Trump supporters were touting that proposal at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. this week in an effort dubbed the “Third Term Project.”
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House adviser and an influential conservative figure, raised the idea of Trump running in 2028 during his CPAC speech.
“The future of MAGA is Donald Trump!,” Bannon said Thursday. “We want Trump in ’28. That’s what they can’t stand. A man like Trump comes along only once or twice in the country’s history. We want Trump!”
Bannon helped push the “stop the steal” movement that tried to overturn former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, culminating in a mob of Trump supports storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to stop the certification of the election.
Trump has sought to expand executive authority during the first month of his second term and limit the checks on him. Critics accuse him of an unconstitutional power grab, saying he has usurped the spending authority of Congress.
Trump posted on social media Saturday that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” a statement attributed to French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who declared himself emperor.
“Spoken like a true dictator,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., responded on X.
