Release of tax returns as a requirement

[eniwetok]

28. Are you running from your own post?

I'm not relying on Bowen... I only brought it up because it actually dealt with the presidency and the decision you originally cited dealt with states setting term limits for Congress. But both dealt with states creating standards... when the issue here was whether Congress could create extra layers of vetting for the presidency which has unique responsibilities unlike any ordinary member of Congress. But the reliance on SCOTUS decisions isn't always the best gauge of anything. By that standard the Ninth remains relatively meaningless because there's little caselaw on the Ninth... even if it's central to defining the limits of government power over individual rights. We've seen the social conservatives on the Court trying to negate the Ninth. SCOTUS decisions have been reversed... such as Lawrence v. Texas and new doctrines can be developed to turn even clear constitutional language on its head... such as Heller which bastardized the clear intent of the Second (Scalia certainly wasn't going to find an individual right to own a firearm in the Ninth).

So you are correct nothing specifically in the Constitution gives Congress authority to impose new eligibility standards on the office of the President... but the key word here is "specifically"... and again I raise the flexibility inherent in the Supremacy Clause which includes: "the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof". It's not a stretch to believe this can't be expanded should a president like Trump prove to be unfit as Commander in Chief. The current approach would be for him to be found unfit under the 25th. But to deal with future Trumps... Congress would find some way to be sure candidates were better vetted.