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BumRushDaShow

(165,619 posts)
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 06:51 AM Dec 18

Lawyer tells Trump the Constitution is unclear on third term, WSJ reports

Source: Reuters

December 17, 2025 7:08 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump discussed a draft copy of a book by lawyer Alan Dershowitz that examines whether Trump could constitutionally serve a third term as president, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Trump's flirtation with the idea of a third term has alarmed opponents and constitutional experts, who say it would test the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which Congress approved after Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times. The 22nd Amendment states in part that "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."

But Dershowitz said he told Trump on Tuesday that the Constitution was not clear on the issue. He said that during an Oval Office meeting, he handed Trump a draft of the book, titled “Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?”

The book, to be published next year, lays out various scenarios in which an individual could serve a third term, Dershowitz said. He said Trump told him that he planned to read the book and asked him for his conclusions about a third term. “He found it interesting as an intellectual issue,” Dershowitz said in an interview with the Journal. “Do I think he’s going to run for a third term? No, I don’t think he will run for a third term.”

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawyer-dershowitz-told-trump-constitutionality-third-term-is-unclear-says-wsj-2025-12-17/

78 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Lawyer tells Trump the Constitution is unclear on third term, WSJ reports (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Dec 18 OP
"He found it interesting as an intellectual issue," Lochloosa Dec 18 #1
How did Dershowitz ever pass law school, or the bar maxrandb Dec 18 #65
Rule of law and US constitution are just quaint relics of a bygone era. Irish_Dem Dec 18 #2
Partners in crime................ Lovie777 Dec 18 #3
Trump's health is so bad, he will not complete this term. A third term would be his rotting corpse. QueerDuck Dec 18 #4
And 1/3 of the country would vote for it. The Madcap Dec 18 #15
Many of his supporters are rotting corpses durablend Dec 18 #25
...or will be soon due to his policies mpcamb Dec 18 #66
I guess we need another amendment that specifically says, no Donald you can't Walleye Dec 18 #5
The 22nd Amendment, in its entirety... jmowreader Dec 18 #6
Seems clear to me. No ambiguities. QueerDuck Dec 18 #19
It's certainly clear, cloudbase Dec 18 #22
That stood out to me, too... slightlv Dec 18 #68
It says what the Gang of Six on the Supreme Court say it says. LudwigPastorius Dec 19 #72
No ambiguities with regard to election Shrek Dec 18 #23
This is basically how Putin overcame the clear Russian Fed term limits Prairie Gates Dec 18 #34
The constitutional requirements for VP are the same as for President Polybius Dec 18 #69
Possible wiggle room SomedayKindaLove Dec 18 #39
Ha, ha, I like 2) PatSeg Dec 18 #45
I'm not seeing the "this amendment does not apply to anyone named Donald Trump" part. Ray Bruns Dec 18 #24
The 22nd Amendment clearly explains why LBJ could have run for a third term in 1968 FakeNoose Dec 18 #27
"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice" Wiz Imp Dec 18 #55
That final sentence... GiqueCee Dec 18 #61
What's so "unclear"? no_hypocrisy Dec 20 #78
You mean the Dershowitz who was raping girls with Epstein? UpInArms Dec 18 #7
he's an evil co-conspirator and needs to be in jail. He makes me want to puke LymphocyteLover Dec 18 #17
Hey now PatSeg Dec 18 #46
+ struggle4progress Dec 18 #67
Dershowitz--enough said hlthe2b Dec 18 #8
The Constitution is only unclear because you want a NAZI regime without a Constitution. Bengus81 Dec 18 #9
"Lawyer" should be disbarred. live love laugh Dec 18 #10
Rare would be the day a president is elected three times bucolic_frolic Dec 18 #11
This is where Alan Dershowitz works BootinUp Dec 18 #12
IN A RELATED STORY: Chasstev365 Dec 18 #13
Donny has Dersh. Dersh did dirty deeds in his tighty whiteys. johnnyfins Dec 18 #14
I will help... Escape Dec 18 #16
If tsf does try it BlueKota Dec 18 #20
what a disgusting thing to focus your energy on and it's not "unclear" at all LymphocyteLover Dec 18 #18
Martha's Vineyard pierogi vendor cites Dershowitz's Epstein ties for refusal of service turbinetree Dec 18 #21
No, I don't think he will run for a third term." So why are you talking him into it? JohnnyRingo Dec 18 #26
The Pukes created the 22nd Amendment in response to FDR getting elected 4 times. Eat Shit, Pukes! NBachers Dec 18 #28
Demented child rapist tells demented child rapist dalton99a Dec 18 #29
Dershowitz is Epstein's BFF Kid Berwyn Dec 18 #30
Trump is going to read a book?? rurallib Dec 18 #31
OBAMA 2028!!! Oliver Bolliver Butt Dec 18 #32
GREAT answer. Can you imagine THOSE debates? Callie1979 Dec 18 #33
22nd Amendment is pretty clear. Historic NY Dec 18 #35
No, I don't think he will run for a third term. ... aggiesal Dec 18 #36
A Lawyer?????? LPBBEAR Dec 18 #37
It's interesting that a cluster of Epstein child rapists mzmolly Dec 18 #38
It's only unclear dweller Dec 18 #40
Dershowitz is a total fraud and creepy as hell. Fuck him. Borogove Dec 18 #41
I agree Skittles Dec 18 #71
Just so we're all clear, there is indeed a loophole and they absolutely would use it. unblock Dec 18 #42
The ways around the 22nd Amendment are not practical in the real world LetMyPeopleVote Dec 18 #43
Given his rapidly putrefying state, Hassler Dec 18 #44
JD (Jock itch Divan diver) Vance could be a puppet President with Trump as the Veep. GreenWave Dec 18 #47
The last guy I would be taking legal moniss Dec 18 #48
If he doesn't leave tonekat Dec 18 #49
He can do as Napoleon did, and have himself declared Emperor. No election necessary. eppur_se_muova Dec 18 #50
I think the plan would be to run for vide-president and then have the president resign in favor of Trump Xipe Totec Dec 18 #56
Get a copy of the US Constitution, Alan, and READ IT! ProudMNDemocrat Dec 18 #51
Lost me at JBTaurus83 Dec 18 #52
Oh yeah? OMGWTF Dec 18 #53
Imagine having an intelligent, compassionate Ilsa Dec 18 #54
I believe Dershowitz is, first and foremost, a contrarian, but.... cab67 Dec 18 #57
I don't think so SamuelTheThird Dec 18 #60
His contrarianism long predates any revelations about Epstein. cab67 Dec 18 #63
I'm really surprised he's lived this long. lpbk2713 Dec 18 #58
Dershowitz... GiqueCee Dec 18 #59
"Lawyer" MorbidButterflyTat Dec 18 #62
If Trump runs for a third term, we nominate Obama to run against him.. mjvpi Dec 18 #64
I'd been advocating for the repeal of the 22nd since I was 19 in the 90's Polybius Dec 18 #70
But arguably it probably prevented a 3rd Reagan term Shrek Dec 19 #73
I'm ok with that, since a Republican was elected anyway Polybius Dec 19 #75
Even if that holds up, you'd still have to be alive to run for office Iris Dec 19 #74
Alan Underwearshitz dweller Dec 19 #76
Cool.....let's run Obama again! OAITW r.2.0 Dec 19 #77

Lovie777

(21,706 posts)
3. Partners in crime................
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 06:56 AM
Dec 18

and this again..................

Dershowitz is in the Epstein files.

QueerDuck

(1,006 posts)
4. Trump's health is so bad, he will not complete this term. A third term would be his rotting corpse.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:00 AM
Dec 18

The Madcap

(1,746 posts)
15. And 1/3 of the country would vote for it.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:30 AM
Dec 18

You think the Oval Office is ugly now? Just imagine that fetid, rotting corpse sitting there while his sycophantic cabinet fawns over it.

Wait....that's already happening.

Walleye

(43,798 posts)
5. I guess we need another amendment that specifically says, no Donald you can't
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:01 AM
Dec 18

He would be so humiliated when Obama kicked his ass in an election

jmowreader

(52,896 posts)
6. The 22nd Amendment, in its entirety...
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:01 AM
Dec 18
Section 1. 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. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

cloudbase

(6,157 posts)
22. It's certainly clear,
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:55 AM
Dec 18

but the words "elected to the office" provide a workaround to assume the presidency.

slightlv

(7,438 posts)
68. That stood out to me, too...
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:49 PM
Dec 18

since I don't think he was actually *elected* to office, so much as cheated his way in.

LudwigPastorius

(14,143 posts)
72. It says what the Gang of Six on the Supreme Court say it says.
Fri Dec 19, 2025, 01:13 AM
Dec 19

I could see them coming up with some bullshit like, “Congress only meant two consecutive terms”.

Hopefully, all speculation will be moot because Trump will die in the next three years. …on the toilet with an unfinished tweet on his phone.

Shrek

(4,390 posts)
23. No ambiguities with regard to election
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 08:00 AM
Dec 18

But the text specifically states that "no person shall be elected" which creates a loophole.

If a sitting VP were to resign, Trump could be appointed VP. The sitting President could then resign, making Trump the President. This is the exact path that took Gerald Ford to the White House.

Without an election there's no way to invoke the 22nd amendment.

Prairie Gates

(7,165 posts)
34. This is basically how Putin overcame the clear Russian Fed term limits
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:41 AM
Dec 18

Once he got in for the third term, he simply ordered his legislature to change the rule. It's been Putin ever since.

Polybius

(21,504 posts)
69. The constitutional requirements for VP are the same as for President
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:05 PM
Dec 18

So Trump, Clinton, Bush, and Obama can't be elected to VP either. But what you say is interesting. If he is appointed VP, he's not elected.

House Speaker is another way, and if the President and VP resign he would be President again. But that's too Hollywood.

SomedayKindaLove

(1,174 posts)
39. Possible wiggle room
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 10:05 AM
Dec 18

1) Trump can argue that he isn’t a “person”
a) “I’m a corporation!”
b) Admits he’s an alien from a distant galaxy
c) Surgery renders him 51% AUI (Artificial
Un-Intellegence)

2) They can argue that he wasn’t really elected vs Harris in 2024 because he stole the election

Ray Bruns

(5,950 posts)
24. I'm not seeing the "this amendment does not apply to anyone named Donald Trump" part.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 08:05 AM
Dec 18

Did you leave it out?

FakeNoose

(40,135 posts)
27. The 22nd Amendment clearly explains why LBJ could have run for a third term in 1968
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:14 AM
Dec 18

He decided against running for political reasons, but he would have been constitutionally allowed another term if he'd been re-elected.

LBJ as Vice President, came to the Presidency in November 1963 when JFK was assassinated. So he finished out JFK's term for 1.2 years, then he was re-elected in 1964 for a 4-year term. By 1968 the country was embroiled in Vietnam and LBJ was knee-deep in that failure. With the Southern states defecting to the GOP as well as anti-Vietnam protests all over the country, LBJ felt that he wouldn't have won re-election in 1968, and he was probably right. That's why he stepped back and let the Democratic Party choose another candidate to run against Nixon. We all know what happened then.

Chump's situation is altogether different. His time will be up in January 2029 and he will pack up and leave the White House. There are two alternatives to this reality: he can resign now, or he can be carried out in a box.

Wiz Imp

(8,898 posts)
55. "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice"
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 01:33 PM
Dec 18

Hw is that unclear? It doesn't get any more clear than that. Any lawyer who tries to argue otherwise should be immediately disbarred.

GiqueCee

(3,393 posts)
61. That final sentence...
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 03:32 PM
Dec 18

... may have been interpreted by Dershowitz to rival Professor Irwin Corey's gibberish when trying to decipher its meaning, thus providing a space for leverage to shoehorn a particle of doubt into a discussion of the viability of Trump's shot at a third term. He'll probably try it.

hlthe2b

(112,790 posts)
8. Dershowitz--enough said
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:04 AM
Dec 18

Good gawd...

Is he still claiming a "massage-only in his tidy whities" at the Epstein mansion? I dare a reporter to ignore his "legal" analysis
( ) and ask him. If I were to use my imagination (not uninformed, however), I would wonder if this little bone thrown to Trump in "undying loyalty," might be in hopes that any more Epstein matter that involves Dershowitz gets buried? Just a hunch, mind you, but...

bucolic_frolic

(53,989 posts)
11. Rare would be the day a president is elected three times
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:09 AM
Dec 18

I'm not in favor of the restriction. In extraordinary times of upheaval, why restrict voters' choices? FDR, 1940. The New Deal was popular. 1944 - WWII. Reagan might have been elected 3 times, though the S&L crisis was a problem. Without a 2x rule, Obama would have whomped Trump in 2016.

I'd not be in favor of chicanery though. No elect Vance so he can resign and appoint Trump. Does anyone think he'll be cognizant in 2028?

LymphocyteLover

(9,342 posts)
18. what a disgusting thing to focus your energy on and it's not "unclear" at all
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 07:47 AM
Dec 18

though I imagine they are thinking of the scenario where Dump runs as VP and gets elected and then the sucker who was elected POTUS resigns, making Dump POTUS again. Just grotesque and stupid.

JohnnyRingo

(20,492 posts)
26. No, I don't think he will run for a third term." So why are you talking him into it?
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:08 AM
Dec 18

Why is Dersh giving him a handbook on how to flout the Constitution?
What's in it for him. No sane person would do that for the sake of the country.

NBachers

(19,174 posts)
28. The Pukes created the 22nd Amendment in response to FDR getting elected 4 times. Eat Shit, Pukes!
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:14 AM
Dec 18

aggiesal

(10,533 posts)
36. No, I don't think he will run for a third term. ...
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:50 AM
Dec 18

Does everyone in Mierda47's circle lie with impunity?
Ooops, I'm sorry, graggy morning got to me.

LPBBEAR

(634 posts)
37. A Lawyer??????
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:52 AM
Dec 18

Alan DoochebagOWitz is a Lawyer? Captain Underpants and General Bonespur get together to discuss Constitutional Law. Cool..... Maybe Trump will appoint him to the Supreme Court.

This country is fucked.

mzmolly

(52,609 posts)
38. It's interesting that a cluster of Epstein child rapists
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 10:04 AM
Dec 18

surround Trump, and tell him he should have a third term.

dweller

(27,833 posts)
40. It's only unclear
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 10:19 AM
Dec 18

If you are wearing your tighty whities and only when you are wearing them over you head





✌🏻

unblock

(55,903 posts)
42. Just so we're all clear, there is indeed a loophole and they absolutely would use it.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 10:36 AM
Dec 18

The constitutional restriction is on being *elected*, not on *serving*. So for instance, with control of the house, they could run a couple stooges as president and vice president. The house elects Donnie speaker of the house. The stooges are sworn in and immediately resign. The vacancy is filled with the speaker of the house, so Donnie becomes president by succession without ever being elected to a third term.

The Supreme Court absolutely would uphold this.

It's completely against the *intent* of the term limits amendment, but republicans don't care about that, at least not when it suits them to ignore such things.


Fortunately, it's starting to look like Donnie and his image may fall apart before then....

LetMyPeopleVote

(174,788 posts)
43. The ways around the 22nd Amendment are not practical in the real world
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 10:45 AM
Dec 18

trump is a lame duck and cannot be POTUS again

GreenWave

(12,316 posts)
47. JD (Jock itch Divan diver) Vance could be a puppet President with Trump as the Veep.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 11:58 AM
Dec 18

Like the old caudillos.

moniss

(8,680 posts)
48. The last guy I would be taking legal
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 12:30 PM
Dec 18

advice from would be "I kept my underwear on" Dirtballwits.

tonekat

(2,445 posts)
49. If he doesn't leave
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 12:43 PM
Dec 18

He should get a Kaddafi type of ending.

Crawling from the wreckage of the Ballroom, he enters the sewer system to avoid the angry crowds. And gets shived by a homeless guy.

eppur_se_muova

(40,945 posts)
50. He can do as Napoleon did, and have himself declared Emperor. No election necessary.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 12:58 PM
Dec 18

Napoleon was supposed to be crowned Emperor by Pope Urban VII, who agreed to do so after having seen Pope Urban VI die in one of Napoleon's jails. That angle seems familiar to Trmp.

Seriously, look for some declaration of "National Emergency" which will allow him to be appointed by a rump faction of Congress, meeting behind closed doors, or by a rightist majority of the Extreme Court.

Xipe Totec

(44,469 posts)
56. I think the plan would be to run for vide-president and then have the president resign in favor of Trump
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 02:38 PM
Dec 18

That way the 22nd amendment does not apply because he only got elected president twice.

ProudMNDemocrat

(20,604 posts)
51. Get a copy of the US Constitution, Alan, and READ IT!
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 12:59 PM
Dec 18

The 22nd Amendment is SPECIFIC!!

NO 3rd terms!!!!

Ilsa

(63,813 posts)
54. Imagine having an intelligent, compassionate
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 01:30 PM
Dec 18

executive and a lovely, smart, educated wife back in the WH. I'd take the Obamas back any day over the Dark Triad idiot and his heartless russian mistress.

cab67

(3,627 posts)
57. I believe Dershowitz is, first and foremost, a contrarian, but....
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 03:01 PM
Dec 18

One sees contrarians across Academia. These are people who really like the attention they get by adopting a point of view that's at odds with the consensus.

Contrarians are different from crackpots and denialists. Crackpots and denialists actually believe what they say. Contrarians often don't. Or they don't care, at any rate. It's about the attention. If the consensus moves in another direction, they'll switch and adopt the position the consensus just abandoned.

Obviously, contrarians can sometimes make money by writing books or going on the lecture circuit. They might also show up as cable news talking heads. These presumably help cement a contrarian's standpoint, but it's the attention that matters. "Look at me! I'm controversial!"

That said - this stuff about a third term is plainly contrary not only to the consensus among Constitutional law scholars, but to the Constitution itself. There's no gray area. Anyone with the basic ability to read and write can see this.

I'm beginning to wonder if there's more than just contrarianism going on with him. Is it money? A desire to be close to power? Something organic? Has he switched columns from "contrarian" to "quack?" I don't know.

-----

In my own field, there was a small community of academics in the 1980's through early oughts we sometimes called the "Flat Earth Society." These were people who could not accept that birds are living theropod dinosaurs. They called themselves the BAND (Birds Are Not Dinosaurs).

The evidence that birds are dinosaurs is as conclusive as that showing human beings are mammals, and it hasn't been treated as controversial since around 1990, but these few dug in their heels. New evidence would be dismissed or explained away with increasingly convoluted and decreasingly parsimonious arguments, some of which crumbled when more evidence came up. When the first non-bird dinosaur with evidence for feathers was found in the mid 1990's, they argued that the feathers (which were short fibers resembling fur or down) were actually internal collagenous fibers that were exposed as the animal decayed. But then they found a non-bird theropod with actual vaned feathers - not short fuzz, but actual feathers with a rachis and barbs. The explanation? A bird had died, and then a dead dinosaur had fallen on top of it. That lasted until they found several more of the feathered non-birds. Eventually, they began to claim that these animals - animals they'd sworn up and down couldn't be related to birds - were, in fact, birds that had evolved to look just like non-bird dinosaurs.

Most BAND members were crackpots. They were true believers. But there was one whose opinions were so bizarre that we wondered if his motivations were different. He would make claims that anyone with a single class in comparative anatomy could see were silly. I once moderated a session at a professional meeting, and he was the last speaker. His words were being contradicted by his own slides. The other moderator and I sometimes glanced at each other with a look of dismay; I mean, was this dude really saying what we thought he'd said? Why didn't he just turn around and look at the bloody pictures behind him? The ones he'd set up for his talk? Did his students consider an intervention? It was madness.

Some of us suggested that people studying bird origins should spend a few months claiming that they were wrong all the time, and that birds are related to extinct crocodile relatives or some other extinct reptile, but not dinosaurs. Most of the BANDers would throw a massive "I Told You So!" party, but that one outlier would probably start insisting that birds must be dinosaurs.

This type of contrarianism, at least, was harmless. What Dershowitz sometimes does is not.

SamuelTheThird

(586 posts)
60. I don't think so
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 03:26 PM
Dec 18

He's badly compromised. He said he got an Epstein massage, but his underwear remained on.

cab67

(3,627 posts)
63. His contrarianism long predates any revelations about Epstein.
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 03:35 PM
Dec 18

It predates the time when anyone even cared.

Besides - I see contrarians like him in my own field. He fits the pattern.

GiqueCee

(3,393 posts)
59. Dershowitz...
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 03:21 PM
Dec 18

... is an obnoxious tub of verbal vomit. The Constitution says NO. Period. I'm sure the six corrupt Republican shitgibbons currently defiling the SCOTUS will try to grease the skids for him if he tries to run a game on America, but it could well turn out to be their final step off the impeachment cliff. America will only tolerate so much from these dishonorable skidmarks.

Polybius

(21,504 posts)
70. I'd been advocating for the repeal of the 22nd since I was 19 in the 90's
Thu Dec 18, 2025, 09:11 PM
Dec 18

It was put in to hurt Democrats, and it has done its job twice: Clinton would have easily won in 2000, as would Obama in 2016. Repeal it now. This is the best chance we have ever had for bi-partisan repeal.

Shrek

(4,390 posts)
73. But arguably it probably prevented a 3rd Reagan term
Fri Dec 19, 2025, 09:27 AM
Dec 19

He was pretty popular when he left office.

Polybius

(21,504 posts)
75. I'm ok with that, since a Republican was elected anyway
Fri Dec 19, 2025, 09:06 PM
Dec 19

We got Poppy Bush anyway in 1988.

dweller

(27,833 posts)
76. Alan Underwearshitz
Fri Dec 19, 2025, 09:18 PM
Dec 19

Is just trying to get his name redacted from their Epstein files

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