Letter: Constitution is not clear on issue with possible Trump run

'Term limits are necessary for U.S. presidency' (Reading Eagle, April 3) led me to investigate. The Scranton Times-Tribune guest editorial makes a claim about the 12th Amendment that isn't true to the literal text. It claims that those ineligible to run for president may not seek the vice presidency.
This claim is actually an interpretation. As such, it is likely to hold up in court due to the intent of the Constitution. But the claim misleads the reader into thinking it's the only interpretation.
A technical loophole, as follows, could allow Trump to be elected as vice president and then become president after a second term.Article II, Section 1 gives three eligibility requirements for the office of president: natural born citizen, age 35 or older, and at least 14 years U.S. resident. If one of the requirements were that of being elected president, then the line of succession could not exist.
Thus, as in the case of Gerald Ford, a distinction exists between becoming president and being elected president.
The 12th Amendment explicitly talks only about eligibility for the office of president, as per Article II, Section 1, not about eligibility for being elected president, as in the 22nd Amendment.
Literally, only those ineligible to become president may not seek the vice presidency. Under this interpretation, Trump could become president a third time without being elected president more than twice.
Glenn Shrom
Upper Bern Township

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