奥巴马或任何一位总统被允许三次连任?

　　本周五是宪法第22修正案的周年纪念日，今日宪法关注了两个热点话题：总统应被允许第三任期吗？以及，国会议员和最高法院成员应像总统一样有任期限制吗？

　　奥巴马或任何一位总统被允许三次连任.png

　　22nd Amendment brought the idea of term limits into the constitution. When it was ratified³ in 1951, the amendment limited a president from effectively serving a third term, by saying that a president who won't wo elections can't run a third time.

　　宪法第22修正案将（总统）任期限制的想法写入了宪法。其于1951年被批准，修正案规定：已赢得两次选举的总统不能参加第三次选举，限制了总统可能出现的第三任期。

　　The 22nd Amendment also bars a President from serving more than 10 years in office, in a case of a president who assumed office as Vice⁴ President.

　　宪法第22修正案同时也禁止总统执政超过10年，以防总统以"副总统"之名把持朝政。

　　For example, Vice President Gerald Ford⁵ took over for President Richard Nixon in 1974 and served more than two years as president. If Ford had defeated Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election, Ford could not have run for re-election.

　　举例来说，副总统杰拉尔德·福特在理查德·尼克松后接任总统，并已在位超过两年。如果福特在1976年大选中击败吉米·卡特，他将不能连任。

　　Long before the 22nd Amendment, George Washington had set an unofficial precedent⁶ in 1796 when he decided⁷ several months before the election not to seek a third term. But Alexander Hamilton and many Founders⁸ wanted a strong executive, and they opposed term limits as a concept. Thomas Jefferson and an equally influential⁹ group of Founders supported term limits for the President.

　　早在第22修正案之前，乔治华盛顿于1796年大选前几个月，决定不寻求第三任期，开创了一个非官方的惯例。但亚历山大·汉密尔顿和许多合众国奠基人想要一个强有力的执行者,他们反对将任期限制条文化。托马斯·杰斐逊及另一同样具有很大影响力的元老团体支持对总统作出任期限制。

　　The only person to break from Washington's precedent was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a record-setting four election wins. Before Roosevelt ran for re-election in 1940, most Presidents didn't try for a third term in office, let alone a third consecutive¹⁰ term.

　　唯一一个打破华盛顿总统惯例的是富兰克林·d·罗斯福总统，创下了连胜四届选举的记录（译注：当时正值二战）。在罗斯福1940年再次竞选之前，大多数总统都没尝试过第三届任期，更别提三届连任了。

　　Roosevelt's distant cousin, Theodore, came the closest to breaking the precedent in 1912, when he ran for President a second time. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded President William McKinley in 1901 and had served about 7 ? years in the White House. Theodore Roosevelt passed on running for a third consecutive term in 1908, fully¹¹ aware of the Washington precedent. But after a fallout with President William Howard Taft, Roosevelt sough a third nonconsecutive term in the 1912 presidential election. He lost the election but came in second ahead of Taft. (Woodrow Wilson and Harry¹² Truman briefly¹³ considered seeking a third term but passed.)

　　罗斯福的远房亲戚，西奥多罗斯福总统在1912年最先接近打破惯例，那时他第三次担任总统。西奥多罗斯福于1901年继任前任总统威廉·麦金莱（译注：其被刺杀，西奥多以副总统之位继任）当时他已在白宫工作了七年半，他明确知悉华盛顿的先例，但仍执意参加1908年选举。不过败于总统威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱，但于1912年总统选举中获胜，开始了非连任的第三任期。他虽在选举中败于塔夫脱，但在打破（连任）惯例上却先于塔夫脱。（伍德罗·威尔逊和哈里·杜鲁门也曾有过第三任期的念头，不过都错过了机会）

　　After Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945, momentum¹⁴ built for a presidential term-limits amendment. Congress passed it in 1947, and it was ratified by the states in 1951.

　　在1945年富兰克林罗斯福去世后，有了一个为总统增加任期限制修正案的势头。国会于1947年通过修正案，于1951年被签署批准正式生效。

　　Since then, several members of Congress have introduced bills to repeal¹⁵ the 22nd Amendment. The latest was offered by Representative Jose Serrano on January 4, 2013.

　　自那时起，一些国会议员提出议案希望废除第22宪法修正案。如最近的，2013年1月4日代表Jose Serrano提出的议案。

　　In fact, Serrano has offered the same bill since 1997–during the presidencies¹⁶ of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The bills were tabled each time.

　　实际上，Serrano从1997年就开始提出这样的提案，无论在比尔·克林顿的总统任期还是乔治·w·布什总统任期亦或巴拉克·奥巴马总统任期。这议案每次都被拿上台面。

　　Representative Steny Hoyer offered similar bills in the past and current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sponsored a similar bill in 1995—during the Clinton administration. Barney Frank and Jerry Nadler also presented anti-22nd Amendment bills in the past.

　　代表Steny Hoyer曾提出类似议案，现任参议院多数派领袖Mitch McConnell在1995年克林顿政府期间也提出过相似的议案。Barney Frank 和Jerry Nadler也曾提出过反第22宪法修正案的议案。

　　There was no interest among legislators in pursuing a 22nd Amendment repeal, probably because most people are happy with term limits for the President. The odds¹⁷ of getting 38 states to ratify¹⁸ an amendment would be very, very steep.

　　对立法者来说，他们没什么兴趣追求废止宪法第22修正案，最可能的原因是大部分人都乐于见到总统的任期限制。并且让38个州都通过一个修正案的几率是十分渺茫的。

　　However, the issue of term limits for Congress is a different matter. In a Gallup poll in January 2013, about 75 percent of Americans polled favored limiting terms for Congress members.

　　不过，国会议员任期限制就是另一码事了。2013年1月的盖洛普民意调查显示，大约75%的美国人赞同对国会成员作出任期限制。

　　Gallup said when the same question was asked in 1994 and 1996, between two-thirds and three-quarters of Americans favored a constitutional amendment to limiting congressional terms.

　　盖洛普表示，针对同样问题，在1994及1996年，三分之二到四分之三的受访美国人支持对国会议员作出任期限制。

　　In the 2013 poll, there was more support for congressional term limits (75 percent) than ending the Electoral College (60 percent).

　　在2013年民意调查中，对国会议员作出任期限制比结束选举人团制度更受人们支持。（支持率分别为75%和60%)

　　And then there is the issue of term limits for judges appointed under the conditions of the Constitution's Article III, including Supreme Court Justices.

　　接下来就是在宪法第三条（译注：其关于美国联邦政府的司法部门）的背景下法官的任命问题，这也包括最高法院法官。

　　These non-elected officials serve as long as they exhibit "good behavior" and can only be removed from office under the Constitution's impeachment¹⁹ process.

　　这些非经选举产生的官员只要表现"优良行为"就可以一直在任，而且，只有经过宪法弹劾程序，政府才能罢免这些官员。

　　The frequent debate over term limits for the Supreme Court centers on the need for an independent judiciary versus²⁰ even closer ties between Justices and the Presidents who appoint them.

　　对最高法院法官任期限制往往聚焦于司法独立的需要，与总统和任命的法官间紧密关系的争论上。

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