Clinton For Veep

There's an interesting debate going on in the blogosphere (Volokh and Matt Yglesias have picked it up) about whether Bill Clinton would be eligible to serve as Vice President on the Kerry ticket. The debate is about the interpretation of the 22nd Amendment - the pertinent passage of which is:-

"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice"

This in itself is not a problem since Clinton wouldn't be elected President. If Clinton had to serve as President at some point during Kerry's term, he would not have been elected anyway. The problem is that the 12th Amendment says that:-

"[N]o person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

And so it comes down to interpretation. Interpreting the meaning of the Constitution is always a tricky subject, and one that is rarely objective. Yes, you could probably argue for a loophole that would allow Clinton to be included on the ticket. I for one think the idea kicks ass. It would be, however, a political minefield and probably not worth the bother. Anyway, the boss is giving me an evil look so I'd better get back to work.