Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?

“Professor Alan Dershowitz is always thoughtful and frequently provocative, and this book is both. He shows that the Twenty-Second Amendment was clearly meant to prohibit a person from serving three terms as president, but there are ways that this could be circumvented given how it is written. Although it is unlikely to ever happen, Professor Dershowitz shows how important it is to fix this and how easy it would be to do so."  

—Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and professor, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

“Either Alan Dershowitz is wrong or naive textualism is absurd. As either disjunct is fun, that's reason enough to read this compelling and beautifully written Hail Mary for the proposition that Donald Trump (and, as he argues, Barack Obama) could serve for a third term.”

—Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School

“Clear-eyed, rigorous, nonpartisan analysis, together with fascinating historical evidence.  Required reading for anyone who wants to know what the Constitution actually says about whether Trump could legally serve a third presidential term.”

—Jed Rubenfeld, professor of law, Yale Law School

“Most lawyers have shunned even the possibility of making this argument. One called it “unthinkable.”  Yet here it is, made within the norms of proper constitutional analysis. Of course, those norms allow room for disagreement. And I do disagree. But we all should applaud—and learn from—its principled mastery. And its boldness.”

—Richard Parker, Williams Professor of Justice, Harvard Law School

“This timely book is especially essential for readers who share the author’s conclusion that a twice-elected president should not remain in office beyond two terms; that conclusion can be most effectively defended based on familiarity with the pertinent constitutional analysis, which the book cogently lays out. Carefully analyzing the text and purposes of the key constitutional provisions, the book evenhandedly spells out the most plausible arguments for and against the constitutional (im)permissibility of a third presidential term. Dispelling widespread public misunderstanding that the Constitution’s text clearly bars a third term, the book notes that liberal constitutional scholars have argued that it could permit potential third terms for former Presidents Clinton and Obama. The book well equips opponents of a third Trump term to understand and counter those arguments.”

—Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School; past national president, American Civil Liberties Union (1991–2008)