Attorney General Bondi’s prediction that President Trump is “going to be finished, probably, after this term” appears unlikely to silence the emerging debate about the prospects for a third term for the 45th and 47th president. 

Ms. Bondi made those remarks on “Fox News Sunday,” where she also ventured that her boss is a “very smart man, and we, I wish we could have him for 20 years as our president.” The attorney general, though, admitted that for Mr. Trump to serve again, “We’d have to look at the Constitution, and it would be a heavy lift.”

A “heavy lift,” though, is not quite a denial. America’s top law enforcement official is alluding to the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, which ordains that “no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.” Mr. Trump last month insisted that he was “not joking” about the idea of a third term, and added: “I like working.” He reasoned, “There are methods which you could do” to secure a third term.

Ms. Bondi’s use of “probably” suggests a certain amount of hedging, possibly an allowance to Mr. Trump’s interest in keeping alive the possibility of a third term.  The Times reports that the notion is a “cocktail party conversation that Mr. Trump likes to have.” One such “method” of serving another four years could be to run as vice president and then swap into the top job after inauguration. That path, though, appears to be blocked by the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, which ordains that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”

The 12th Amendment revised the method of electing presidents and vice presidents. Prior to its ratification, voting in the Electoral College did not distinguish between the president and vice president. Whomever received the most votes earned the presidency, and the runner-up became vice president. This led to incongruous results, as when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, political foes, were elected together. The spur to amend came from the deadlocked vote, in 1800, of Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

Support from Alexander Hamilton pushed Jefferson to victory on the 36th ballot in the House of Representatives. In a letter to a congressman from Massachusetts, Harrison Gray Otis, Hamilton wrote, “In a choice of Evils let them take the least – Jefferson is in every view less dangerous than Burr.” He added: “Jefferson, though too revolutionary in his notions, is yet a lover of liberty and will be desirous of something like orderly Government — Mr. Burr loves nothing but himself — thinks of nothing but his own aggrandizement — and will be content with nothing short of permanent power.”   

This history could now be reviewed with fresh eyes. A former campaign attorney for Mr. Trump, Jenna Ellis, tells NBC News, “If there’s a procedural way to accomplish” a third term, Mr. Trump is “likely very much considering it.” An erstwhile strategist for the president, Stephen Bannon, told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo last month: “I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028. … A man like this comes along once every century, if we’re lucky. We’ve got him now.”

The House of Representatives could emerge as a central theater where the issue of a third presidential term for Mr. Trump is mooted. Congressman Dan Goldman in November — after Mr. Trump beat Vice President Harris but before he was sworn in — introduced a resolution condemning Mr. Trump’s “continued allusions to remaining in office past the two term limit.”

Mr. Goldman interprets the 22nd Amendment as embodying “one of our most foundational beliefs: no one shall be king.” Another lawmaker, Congressman Andy Ogles, in January proposed an amendment to “the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms.” To be added to the Constitution, such a measure would require passage by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.   

Mr. Ogles’s proposal would amend the parchment to read, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times,” an extra term from what appears to be currently permitted. Mr. Ogles explains that “this amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”  

Another lawmaker, Senator Curtis, told NBC News last month with respect to Mr. Trump serving another term: “I wouldn’t have supported a third term for George Washington. That’s a no, yeah.”