|
|
|
|
Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
|
| |
|
| |
The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution' Start a new discussion about 'Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which doesn't explicitly state whether the Vice President becomes the President if the President died, resigned, was removed from office or was unable to discharge the Presidential powers. It was ratified in 1967.
Text
Background
Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution states: That clause was unclear regarding Presidential succession or inability; it did not state who had the power to declare a President incapacitated. Also, it did not provide a mechanism for filling a Vice Presidential vacancy prior to the next Presidential election. The vagueness of this clause caused difficulties many times before the Twenty-fifth Amendment's adoption:
- In 1841 President William Henry Harrison died in office. Vice President John Tyler asserted that he had succeeded to the office of President, as opposed to only obtaining its powers and duties. He also declined to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President." Despite some strong calls against it, Tyler took the oath of office, becoming the tenth President. Tyler's claim was not formally challenged and so the precedent of full succession was established.
- There had been many occasions when a President was incapacitated. For example, following President Wilson's stroke nobody officially assumed the Presidential powers and duties.
- The office of Vice President has been vacant sixteen times due to the death of the President, or the death or resignation of the Vice President.
All of these incidents made it evident that clearer guidelines were needed. The Twenty-fifth Amendment was proposed in the Senate by Senator Birch Bayh on January 6, 1965 and in the House of Representatives by Representative Emanuel Celler on July 6, 1965.
On February 19, the Senate passed the amendment by a 72–0 vote. The House passed a different version of the amendment on April 13 by a 368–29 margin. After a conference committee ironed out differences between the versions, on July 6 the final version of the amendment was passed by both Houses of the Congress and presented to the states for ratification.
Just six days after its submission, Wisconsin and Nebraska were the first states to ratify the amendment. On February 10, 1967, Minnesota and Nevada were the 37th and 38th states to ratify. On February 23, 1967, in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, General Services Administrator Lawson Knott certified the amendment's adoption.
Section One: Presidential vacancy
This section resolved the confusion regarding Presidential succession described above. Now it is clear that if the office of President becomes vacant, the Vice President immediately becomes President.
Section Two: Vice Presidential vacancy
The Constitution did not provide for Vice Presidential vacancies until the Twenty fifth Amendment was ratified. The Vice Presidency has been vacant several times due to death, resignation, or succession to the Presidency. Often these vacancies lasted for many years.
Under the amendment, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of Vice President, the President nominates a successor, who becomes Vice President if confirmed by a majority vote of both Houses of the Congress.
Sections Three and Four: Presidential Disability
The Twenty-fifth Amendment provides how Presidential disability is to be determined. Abraham Lincoln lay unconscious for several hours after he was shot until he died; James Garfield was incapacitated for eighty days by an assassin's bullet before dying; a stroke rendered Woodrow Wilson disabled for the last eighteen months of his term; and Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in 1955 and a stroke in 1957, although in both instances he was able to return to duty quickly. Ronald Reagan was hospitalized for gunshot wounds after an assassination attempt in 1981 (see below).
Section Three: Voluntary Withdrawal
Section three provides that when the President transmits a written declaration to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, stating that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency, and until the President sends another written declaration to the aforementioned officers declaring himself able to resume discharging those powers and duties, the Vice President serves as Acting President.
Section Four: Involuntary Withdrawal
Section four is the only one that has never been invoked. It states that the Vice President, together with a majority of "the principal officers of the executive departments" (i.e., the Cabinet) or a majority of "such other body as Congress may by law provide", can declare the President disabled. As with Section three, the Vice President would become Acting President. An "involuntary" withdrawal may be declared for a variety of reasons. The most likely scenario, and the primary purpose of Section four, is an incapacitation that results in both the inability of a President to discharge the duties of the office of President and his inability to provide a written declaration to that effect. However, it is possible for such a declaration to be made even if the President is fully able and conscious, should the majority of his officers find grounds other than medical disability, such as insanity or an emotional instability that compromises his or her ability to be President. The President may resume exercising the Presidential duties by sending a written declaration to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House.
If the Vice President and Cabinet are still unsatisfied with the President's condition, they may within four days of the President's declaration submit another declaration that the President is incapacitated. The Congress must assemble within 48 hours, and within 21 days pronounce its decision. A two-thirds vote of each House of Congress is required to affirm the President as unfit. Upon this finding by the Congress that the Vice President will "continue" to discharge the Presidential duties, implying the Vice President remains Acting President unless either House of the Congress decides the issue in favor of the President or the 21 days expire without a decision. Should the Congress uphold the finding of incapacity the President remains in office, albeit stripped of all Presidential powers and duties. The Vice President would remain Acting President. However, the President may again submit a written declaration of recovery to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House. That declaration could be responded to by the Acting President and the Cabinet in the same way as stated earlier. Then the 21-day Congressional procedure would start again.
While the Amendment specifies the Vice President must be involved in the decision, the Amendment allows the Congress to choose a body other than the Cabinet to decide upon Presidential incapacity. That "other body" would replace the Cabinet for the purpose of this Section.
Applications of the Amendment
The Twenty fifth Amendment has been invoked six times since its ratification.
Appointment of Vice President Gerald Ford (1973)
Following Spiro Agnew's resignation two days earlier, President Richard Nixon nominated long-time Michigan congressman Gerald Ford to succeed Agnew as Vice President on October 12, 1973.
The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27, and on December 6 the House confirmed him 387 to 35. Ford was sworn in later that day at the United States Capitol.
Succession of President Gerald Ford (1974)
President Richard Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. In accordance with section one, which formalized the Tyler precedent, Vice President Gerald Ford succeeded to the office of President. This made Gerald Ford the first person ever to be Vice President, and later President, without being elected to either office.
Appointment of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (1974)
By becoming President, Gerald Ford left the Vice Presidency vacant. After considering Melvin Laird and George H. W. Bush, on August 20, 1974, President Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him as Vice President.
After a long and contentious investigation, particularly to ensure that his family's business dealings would not cause conflicts of interest, Rockefeller was confirmed 90-7 by the Senate on December 10, 1974. On December 19, 1974 Rockefeller was confirmed 287-128 by the House and sworn into office.
Acting President George H. W. Bush (1985)
On July 12, 1985, President Ronald Reagan underwent a colonoscopy, during which a pre-cancerous lesion called a villous adenoma was discovered. Upon being told by his physician (Dr. Edward Cattow) that he could undergo surgery immediately or in two to three weeks, Reagan elected to have it removed immediately.
That afternoon, Reagan consulted with White House counsel Fred Fielding by telephone, debating whether to invoke the amendment and, if so, whether such a transfer would set an undesirable precedent. Fielding and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan both recommended that Reagan transfer power and two letters doing so were drafted: the first specifically referencing Section 3 of the Twenty fifth Amendment, the second not.
At 10:32 a.m. on July 13, Reagan signed the second letter and ordered its delivery to the appropriate officers as required under the amendment. Due to some confusing language and Reagan's failure to specifically mention Section 3 of the amendment in his letter, some constitutional scholars have claimed that Reagan did not actually transfer his power to Bush.
Books such as The President Has Been Shot: Confusion, Disability and the 25th Amendment, by Herbert Abrams, and Reagan's autobiography, An American Life, argue Reagan's intent to transfer power to Bush was clear. Fielding himself adds, "I personally know he did intend to invoke the amendment, and he conveyed that to all of his staff and it was conveyed to the VP as well as the President of the Senate. He was also very firm in his wish not to create a precedent binding his successor."
Acting President Dick Cheney
2002
On June 29, 2002, President George W. Bush underwent a colonoscopy and chose to invoke the Amendment, temporarily transferring his powers to Vice President Cheney.
The procedure began at 7:09 a.m EDT and ended at 7:29 a.m. EDT. Bush woke up twenty minutes later, but did not resume his presidential powers & duties until 9:24 a.m. EDT after the president's doctor, Richard Tubb, conducted an overall examination. Tubb said he recommended the additional time to make sure the sedative had no after effects.
Unlike Reagan's 1985 letter, Bush's 2002 letter specifically cited Section 3 of the Amendment in his letter transferring power.
2007
On July 21, 2007, President George W. Bush again underwent a colonoscopy and chose to invoke the Amendment, temporarily transferring his powers to Vice President Cheney. President Bush invoked Section 3 of the Amendment at 7:16 a.m. EDT. He reclaimed his powers, pursuant to Section 3, at 9:21 a.m. EDT. As happened in 2002, Bush specifically cited Section 3 of the Amendment when he transferred the Presidential powers to the Vice President and when he reclaimed those powers.
Considered applications of the Amendment
There are two documented instances in which invocation of Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment was considered.
1981: Reagan assassination attempt
Following the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, a number of cabinet officials suggested that Vice President George H. W. Bush assume the role of Acting President under Section 4 of the amendment. Bush, however, was opposed to the idea, in part because he didn't wish to be seen as leading a de facto coup d'état.
In 1995, Birch Bayh, the primary sponsor of the amendment in the Senate, said that Section 4 should have been invoked.
1987: Reagan incapacity
Upon assuming the role of White House Chief of Staff in 1987, Howard Baker was advised by his predecessor's staff to be prepared for a possible invocation of the Twenty fifth Amendment due to Reagan's perceived laziness and ineptitude.
According to PBS's American Experience program recalling the Reagan administration: "What Baker's transition team was told by Donald Regan's staff that weekend shocked them. Reagan was 'inattentive, inept,' and 'lazy,' and Baker should be prepared to invoke the 25th Amendment to relieve him of his duties."
Reagan biographer Edmund Morris stated in an interview aired on the program,
- "The incoming Baker people all decided to have a meeting with him on Monday, their first official meeting with the President, and to cluster around the table in the Cabinet room and watch him very, very closely to see how he behaved, to see if he was indeed losing his mental grip."
Morris went on to explain
- "...Reagan who was, of course, completely unaware that they were launching a death watch on him, came in stimulated by the press of all these new people and performed splendidly. At the end of the meeting, they figuratively threw up their hands realizing he was in perfect command of himself."
Earlier proposals
The first draft of Senate Joint Resolution 1, the legislation that would ultimately be ratified as the Twenty-fifth Amendment, was preceded by two other attempts to pass a constitutional amendment regarding Presidential succession: Senate Joint Resolution 35 and Senate Joint Resolution 139.
Senate Joint Resolution 35 (1963)
Senate Joint Resolution 35 was proposed by Senator Kenneth Keating of New York, and received the recommendation of the American Bar Association. Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver (the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments), a long-time advocate for addressing the disability question, spearheaded the effort until he died because of a heart attack on August 10, 1963.
The text of the amendment reads:
Senate Joint Resolution 139 (1963)
Senate Joint Resolution 139 was proposed by Senators Bayh of Indiana (Kefauver's successor as chair of the Constitutional Amendments subcommittee) and Long of Missouri. Where Senate Joint Resolution 35 had been seen by some as too vague in terms relating to Presidential succession and disability, this legislation was seen as too constrictive by some, as it in essence aped the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The text of the amendment reads:
Joint Resolution 1 (1965)
House Joint Resolution 1 was proposed by Representative Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on January 4, 1965 and Senate Joint Resolution 1 was proposed by Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana on January 6, 1965. These resolutions ultimately led to what became the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
Original form of Joint Resolution 1 (both House and Senate versions)
Sections 1 and 2 went unchanged throughout the amendment's passage through the Congress, and consequently are not repeated. Sections 3, 4 and 5 in their original form read as follows:
Proposal and ratification
The Congress proposed the Twenty-fifth Amendment on July 6, 1965 and the amendment was ratified by the following states:
- Nebraska (July 12, 1965)
- Wisconsin (July 13, 1965)
- Oklahoma (July 16, 1965)
- Massachusetts (August 9, 1965)
- Pennsylvania (August 18, 1965)
- Kentucky (September 15, 1965)
- Arizona (September 22, 1965)
- Michigan (October 5, 1965)
- Indiana (October 20, 1965)
- California (October 21, 1965)
- Arkansas (November 4, 1965)
- New Jersey (November 29, 1965)
- Delaware (December 7, 1965)
- Utah (January 17, 1966)
- West Virginia (January 20, 1966)
- Maine (January 24, 1966)
- Rhode Island (January 28, 1966)
- Colorado (February 3, 1966)
- New Mexico (February 3, 1966)
- Kansas (February 8, 1966)
- Vermont (February 10, 1966)
- Alaska (February 18, 1966)
- Idaho (March 2, 1966)
- Hawaii (March 3, 1966)
- Virginia (March 8, 1966)
- Mississippi (March 10, 1966)
- New York (March 14, 1966)
- Maryland (March 23, 1966)
- Missouri (March 30, 1966)
- New Hampshire (June 13, 1966)
- Louisiana (July 5, 1966)
- Tennessee (January 12, 1967)
- Wyoming (January 25, 1967)
- Washington (January 26, 1967)
- Iowa (January 26, 1967)
- Oregon (February 2, 1967)
- Minnesota (February 10, 1967)
- Nevada (February 10, 1967)
Ratification was completed on February 10, 1967. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
- Connecticut (February 14, 1967)
- Montana (February 15, 1967)
- South Dakota (March 6, 1967)
- Ohio (March 7, 1967)
- Alabama (March 14, 1967)
- North Carolina (March 22, 1967)
- Illinois (March 22, 1967)
- Texas (April 25, 1967)
- Florida (May 25, 1967)
The following states have not ratified the amendment:
- North Dakota
- Georgia
- South Carolina
In popular culture
- The film Vantage Point contains a scene in which enacting the Twenty-fifth Amendment is discussed. This point is intentionally vague because of plot implications.
- The Twenty-fifth Amendment has been invoked 3 times in the television series 24 in seasons 2, 4 and 6.
- In the 2000 film The Contender, the President, in the wake of his Vice President's death, is seeking the confirmation of his replacement.
- The Twenty-fifth Amendment is invoked in the television series The West Wing from the end of season 4 until the beginning of season 5. At the time of invocation there is no sitting Vice President and so the Speaker of the House becomes Acting President. In reality, only a Vice President can become Acting President by way of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Unlike any of the real-life applications of the amendment, which have involved resignation or physical incapacity, The West Wing has fictional President Bartlet invoke the amendment to prevent any ethical conflict between the responsibilities of the office and his fears for the safety of his kidnapped daughter.
- In the movie Air Force One, the members of the cabinet discuss invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment while the President and his family are held hostage aboard Air Force One, on the grounds that he is unable to effectively discharge his duties as President due to the threats made against his family.
- The final mission in the 2006 video game Hitman: Blood Money is named "Amendment XXV". This part of the game tells the story of how the Vice President plots against the President to succeed him.
- In Mario Puzo's 1990 novel, The Fourth K, the President's staff considers invoking the amendment when the president's daughter is kidnapped.
- In William Safire's 1978 novel Full Disclosure, the Cabinet attempts to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment after a failed assassination attempt leaves the President blind.
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
