For a period of twelve years following a person’s service as President of the United States, whether elected or acting and for however many days, no person shall be a candidate for, or serve as, President who is the present or former spouse, parent, child, first cousin, or in-law of such person, in each case whether by marriage or otherwise.
The proposed amendment to the Constitution can be seen as a supplement to the Twenty Second Amendment. The power of the modern presidency and the opportunities for bad actors (whether domestic or foreign) afforded by social media and modern technology make it important to address the danger of an effective circumvention of the two-term limit either at the immediate end of a Presidency or for a fixed period thereafter.
Secondarily, the proposed amendment seeks to avoid having essentially the same group of advisors in multiple administrations. Prior political experience, in addition to the expertise of career civil servants, is important, but there should be some “changing of the guard.”
This not a partisan proposal. For example, without being a commentary on their actual or potential actions in office, it would have impacted both the ability of George W. Bush to run in 2000 and that of Hillary Clinton to run in 2008. (It would not have impacted the presidencies of John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Harrison, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt.)
There is certainly a tension between the freedom of individuals to pursue their goals and their being required to accept limitations based on their status as a spouse, sibling, etc. But the public good requires that the proper balance be struck. The twelve-year provision is intended to strike that balance. It is longer than the trend over recent decades of two-term presidencies followed by a change in the party holding the presidency so as to prevent a “presidency-in-waiting” scenario in which a spouse, child, etc. of a former president can assume the office after four or eight years have passed.
