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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke January 27, 2025

No, this proposed constitutional amendment wouldn’t give former President Barack Obama a third term

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  • This proposed constitutional amendment wouldn’t let someone who served two consecutive presidential terms run for a third term.

The U.S. Constitution limits how long someone can serve as president. 

According to the 22nd Amendment, "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."  

That precludes President Donald Trump from re-election in 2028.

But on Jan. 23, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a House joint resolution "to allow Trump to serve a third term," his press release said.

Some social media users flagged what they perceived as a snag for the Trump faithful.

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"So MAGA now wants to allow presidents to have a 3rd term?" a Jan. 23 Threads post said. "One small problem with that. It would allow ANYONE to run for a 3rd term. Including -- Barack Obama."

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

But the resolution doesn’t propose changing the 22nd Amendment so that former President Barack Obama — or any other president who served two consecutive terms — could run. 

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Ogles wants the amended amendment to say: "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms, and no person who has held the office of the 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 twice."

That means former President Grover Cleveland, who died in 1908 and served two nonconsecutive presidential terms, would have been the only other former U.S. president eligible to run for reelection after serving two terms under the proposed amendment. 

For the Constitution to be amended, Ogles’ bill would need to be approved by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, and then ratified by three-fourths of the states.

We rate claims this amendment would let Obama from for a third term False.

 

Our Sources

Threads post, Jan. 23, 2025

Miller Center, Grover Cleveland, visited Jan. 27, 2025

Time, Donald Trump, Grover Cleveland, and the History of Winning Back the White House, Nov. 6, 2024

Congressman Andy Ogles, Rep. Ogles Proposes Amending the 22nd Amendment to Allow Trump to Serve a Third Term, Jan. 23, 2025

House Joint Resolution, Jan. 13, 2025

National Constitution Center, Two-Term Limit on Presidency, visited Jan. 27, 2025

National Conference of State Legislatures, Amending the U.S. Constitution, updated Aug. 1, 2017

 

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No, this proposed constitutional amendment wouldn’t give former President Barack Obama a third term

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