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Term limits in the United States

Updated: 11/4/2025, 4:37:02 PM Wikipedia source

In the context of the politics of the United States, term limits restrict the number of terms of office an officeholder may serve. At the federal level, the president of the United States can serve a maximum of two four-year terms, with this being limited by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution that came into force on February 27, 1951. Some state government offices are also term-limited, including executive, legislative, and judicial offices. Analogous measures exist at the city and county level across the U.S., though many details involving local governments in that country vary depending on the specific location. Term limits are also referred to as rotation in office. That specific terminology is often associated with the Founding Father and later president Thomas Jefferson given his use of it in his political arguments.

Tables

Term limits by federal office · Federal term limits
President
President
Office
President
Restrictions
Limited to being elected to a total of two four-year terms. If a vice president becomes president by succession and completes more than two years of said former president's unfinished term, they may be elected in their own right only once. A vice president who becomes president by succession and serves less than two years of their predecessor's term may be elected to two more four-year terms. Becoming the president by succession may happen to someone an unlimited number of times, for example, if they are vice president and the president dies, resigns or is removed from office via impeachment conviction.
Vice president
Vice president
Office
Vice president
Restrictions
Unlimited four-year terms
Senate
Senate
Office
Senate
Restrictions
Unlimited six-year terms
Supreme Court and lower courts
Supreme Court and lower courts
Office
Supreme Court and lower courts
Restrictions
No term limits, appointed to serve "during good Behaviour" (but can be impeached and removed from office for "high Crimes and Misdemeanors"). In practice a judge or justice serves until death or resignation.
Office
Restrictions
President
Limited to being elected to a total of two four-year terms. If a vice president becomes president by succession and completes more than two years of said former president's unfinished term, they may be elected in their own right only once. A vice president who becomes president by succession and serves less than two years of their predecessor's term may be elected to two more four-year terms. Becoming the president by succession may happen to someone an unlimited number of times, for example, if they are vice president and the president dies, resigns or is removed from office via impeachment conviction.
Vice president
Unlimited four-year terms
House of Representatives
Unlimited two-year terms
Senate
Unlimited six-year terms
Supreme Court and lower courts
No term limits, appointed to serve "during good Behaviour" (but can be impeached and removed from office for "high Crimes and Misdemeanors"). In practice a judge or justice serves until death or resignation.

References

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