Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States setting age limits for President, Vice President, Senators and Representatives - Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on this proposed amendment? I am seriously interested in submitting this to my U.S. Representative for introduction and would like to build consensus and receive constructive criticism.
Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Establishing Maximum Ages for the President, Vice President, Senators, and Representatives
Article —
Section 1. No person shall be elected, appointed, or otherwise chosen to the office of President, Vice President, Senator, or Representative, whether for a full term or to fill a vacancy, if such person would attain the age of eighty years on or before the expiration of the term for which such person is chosen.
For purposes of this article, the term of a person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be the unexpired portion of the term of the office in which the vacancy occurred, without regard to any earlier date on which an interim appointment may end.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to disqualify, solely by reason of age, a person chosen in compliance with this section from continuing to serve during the term for which such person was chosen.
Section 2. No person who has attained the age of eighty years shall succeed to the office of President or discharge the powers and duties of that office, whether permanently or temporarily.
A Vice President chosen in compliance with Section 1 of this article may succeed to the office of President or discharge its powers and duties for the remainder of the presidential term for which such Vice President was chosen.
Any other person who, before attaining the age of eighty years, becomes authorized pursuant to this Constitution or the laws of the United States to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President may do so only until such person attains that age.
Upon such person's attaining the age of eighty years, that person shall cease to discharge the powers and duties of the office, and those powers and duties shall devolve upon the next person eligible to discharge them in accordance with this Constitution and the laws of the United States.
Section 3. Neither Section 1 nor Section 2 shall prevent any person holding, or elected to, the office of President, Vice President, Senator, or Representative on the date of ratification of this article from completing the term then being served or to which such person has been elected.
A person holding, or elected to, the office of Senator or Representative on the date of ratification may, notwithstanding Section 1, be elected to the term in that office immediately following the latest term for which such person has been chosen as of the date of ratification. Section 1 shall apply to any term thereafter.
Section 1 shall not apply to any person elected, appointed, or otherwise chosen within one hundred eighty days after the date of ratification, and such a person may assume and complete the term for which chosen notwithstanding Sections 1 and 2. For purposes of this section, a President and Vice President shall be considered elected on the date prescribed by law for the appointment of presidential electors.
A person holding the office of Vice President on the date of ratification may succeed to the office of President or discharge its powers and duties for the remainder of the presidential term then being served notwithstanding Section 2.
Section 4. Nothing in this article shall be construed to establish, authorize, prohibit, or otherwise affect any age qualification, age limit, or mandatory retirement requirement for any office or position under the United States other than those of President, Vice President, Senator, and Representative.
Except as provided in this article, nothing in this article shall be construed to limit or otherwise affect the operation of any other provision of this Constitution governing impeachment, removal from office, expulsion, presidential inability, succession, or vacancies.
Section 5. This article shall be self-executing.
The several States shall apply Section 1 of this article in determining the eligibility of candidates for the offices of President, Vice President, Senator, and Representative, subject to such legislation as Congress may enact.
A person ineligible under Section 1 of this article who is chosen President or Vice President shall not qualify for that office. If the President-elect is ineligible under Section 1 and the Vice President-elect is eligible, the Vice President-elect shall become President at the time fixed for the beginning of the presidential term. If the Vice President-elect is ineligible under Section 1 and the President-elect is eligible, the office of Vice President shall be vacant and shall be filled as provided in this Constitution. If neither the President-elect nor the Vice President-elect is eligible under Section 1, the Congress may by law provide for the person who shall act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Nothing in this article shall diminish the power of each House of Congress to judge the qualifications of its own members.
Section 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within ten years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.