Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday exchanged pointed tweets about their understanding of the Constitution, with Ocasio-Cortez accusing Cheney of getting her “news from Facebook memes” and Cheney suggesting Ocasio-Cortez get some basics from “School House Rock.”
“Hey Rep. Cheney, I see from your dead people comment that you get your news from Facebook memes, but the National Constitution Center + Newsweek are just two of many places where you can clarify your misunderstanding of the history of the 22nd Amendment,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet.
The progressive congresswoman was reacting to Cheney, who is the House Republican Conference chairwoman, writing on Twitter that Ocasio-Cortez thinks “dead people” can run for president after Ocasio-Cortez last week said Congress amended the Constitution to ensure that former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn’t get reelected.
Cheney shot back with a link to an educational “School House Rock” video on the Constitution.
“I know you’re busy so I thought this short video would be helpful to introduce you to the basics of the Constitution,” she said. “If you’re still trying to figure out how a bill becomes a law, they have a great video on that, too.”
Roosevelt died in 1945 and that the 22nd Amendment was approved in 1947. The amendment set term limits for presidents.
But the Newsweek story that Ocasio-Cortez linked to notes that Congress began the legislative process for the amendment in 1944, prior to Roosevelt’s death the following year. The National Constitution Center explained last year that “in 1944…Republican candidate Thomas Dewey said a potential 16-year term for Roosevelt was a threat to democracy.”
