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2026 Wis. L. Rev. Forward 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/wlron2026 and id is 1 raw text is: NO THIRD TERM: REJECTING THE NONCONSECUTIVE LOOPHOLE ANOO DINESH VYAS* The text of the Twenty-Second Amendment seems clear that a president cannot be elected to a third term: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. This Essay looks further to the history surrounding the Twenty-Second Amendment, an exercise sometimes employed by judges, particularly those who favor the constitutional interpretive method of originalism. History shows that a president cannot be elected to a third term on the theory that the previous terms were nonconsecutive. Introduction ...............................................................................................1 I. The Text of the Twenty-Second Amendment ................................2 II. The Historical Record Rejects a Third Term Based on Prior Nonconsecutive Terms ...................................................................3 A. Senate Voted Against Successive Term Limit ....................4 B. State Constitutions Used Successive ...................................5 C. Federal Statutes Used Successive and Consecutive.....6 D. Newspapers Discussed Nonconsecutive Terms ......................7 E. Newspapers Discussed Ten-Year Maximum .....................8 Conclusion...............................................................................................10 INTRODUCTION A Harvard Law emeritus professor has recently advanced the argument that mechanisms may exist for a president to serve a third term,1 though many constitutional law scholars take the opposite view.2 This Essay categorically rejects the particular claim that a president may be elected to a third term on the specific theory that the prior two terms were nonconsecutive. * Assistant Professor of Law, University of Massachusetts School of Law. Thank you to Rebecca Valentine for her exemplary research assistance. Also, heartfelt thank you to Margaret Drew, Dustin Marlan, Eric Mitnick, Richard Peltz-Steele, Anna- Marie Tabor, and Evan Zoldan for their thoughtful feedback. All errors are mine alone. 1. Brian Schwartz, Trump Told by Alan Dershowitz Constitutionality of Third Term Is Unclear, WALL ST. J. (Dec. 17, 2025), https://www.wsj.com/politics /elections/trump-told-by-alan-dershowitz-constitutionality-of-third-term-is-unclear33133 eb8?gaa at=eafs&gaa n=AWEtsge32UbgFCVJvsg6vhkpKdEmGkQG7ylzUOY8MlKq TJYgBpcFE0421QXE3svRozM%3D&gaats=69cb1fi1&gaa sig=d8ocy2tTIi66Uphs6A BhUM6ZxICmSi_W9c7oFvwx903cUNFtD-fEYGK_tnBHdltwUFCtGZo591eggi0gmMv ww%3D%3D [https://perma.cc/GP9D-SP46]. 2. See, e.g., AKHIL REED AMAR, AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION: A BIOGRAPHY 436, 622 n.8 (2005).