Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Last updated

The Twentieth Amendment (Amendment XX) to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect. The Twentieth Amendment was adopted on January 23, 1933. [1]

Contents

The amendment reduced the presidential transition and the "lame duck" period, by which members of Congress and the president serve the remainder of their terms after an election. The amendment established congressional terms to begin before presidential terms and that the incoming Congress, rather than the outgoing one, would hold a contingent election if the Electoral College deadlocked regarding either the presidential or vice presidential elections.

Text

Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice President-elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President-elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President-elect nor a Vice President-elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Section 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

Section 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

Historical background

Original text of the Constitution

Article I, Section 4, Clause 2 of the Constitution states that Congress must meet at least once a year. The default date specified is the first Monday in December, though Congress is empowered to set another date and the president can summon special sessions.

The original text of the Constitution set a duration for the terms of federal elected officials, but not the specific dates on which those terms would begin or end. In September 1788, after the necessary nine states had ratified the Constitution, the Congress of the Confederation set March 4, 1789, as the date "for commencing proceedings" of the newly reorganized government. Despite the fact that the new Congress and presidential administration did not begin operation until April, March 4 was deemed to be the beginning of the newly elected officials' terms of office, and thus of the terms of their successors. [2] The Constitution did not specify a date for federal elections, but by the time of the second presidential election in 1792, Congress had passed a law requiring presidential electors to be chosen during November or early December. [3] By 1845, this was narrowed to a single day, in early November. [4] Congressional elections were generally held on the same day.

Issues

The result of these scheduling decisions was that there was a long, four-month lame duck period between the election and inauguration of the new president. For Congress, the situation was perhaps even more awkward. Because Article I, Section 4, Clause 2 mandated a Congressional meeting every December, after the election but before Congressional terms of office had expired, a lame-duck session was required by the Constitution in even-numbered years; the next session was not required until the next December, meaning new members of Congress might not begin their work until more than a year after they had been elected. Special sessions sometimes met earlier in the year, but this never became a regular practice, despite the Constitution allowing for it. In practice, Congress usually met in a long session beginning in Decembers of odd-numbered years, and in a short lame-duck session in December of even-numbered years. [5]

The long lame-duck period might have been a practical necessity at the end of the 18th century, when any newly elected official might require several months to put his affairs in order and then undertake an arduous journey from his home to the national capital, but it eventually had the effect of impeding the functioning of government in the modern age. From the early 19th century, it also meant a lame-duck Congress and presidential administration would fail to adequately respond to a significant national crisis in a timely manner. Each institution could do this on the theory that, at best, a lame-duck Congress or administration had neither the time nor the mandate to tackle problems, whereas the incoming administration or Congress would have both the time and a fresh electoral mandate, to examine and address the problems the nation faced. These problems very likely would have been at the center of the debate of the just-completed election cycle.

This dilemma was seen most notably in 1861 and 1933, after the elections of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, respectively, plus the newly elected Senators and Representatives. Under the Constitution at the time, these presidents had to wait four months before they and the incoming Congresses could deal with the secession of Southern states and the Great Depression respectively.

In 1916, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson devised an unorthodox plan to avoid a lame-duck presidency and allow his Republican opponent Charles Evans Hughes to assume presidential powers immediately if Hughes had won the election. In that case, Wilson planned to appoint Hughes as Secretary of State, who under the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 was second in the presidential line of succession. President Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall would have then both resigned, leaving Hughes to become acting president. The plan was never implemented because Wilson was narrowly re-elected. [6]

Proposal and ratification

The Twentieth Amendment,
National Archives
20th Amendment Pg1of2 AC.jpg
20th Amendment Pg2of2 AC.jpg

The 72nd Congress proposed the Twentieth Amendment on March 2, 1932, and the amendment was ratified by the following states. [7] The Amendment was adopted on January 23, 1933 after 36 states, being three-fourths of the then-existing 48 states, ratified the Amendment.

  1. Virginia: March 4, 1932
  2. New York: March 11, 1932
  3. Mississippi: March 16, 1932
  4. Arkansas: March 17, 1932
  5. Kentucky: March 17, 1932
  6. New Jersey: March 21, 1932
  7. South Carolina: March 25, 1932
  8. Michigan: March 31, 1932
  9. Maine: April 1, 1932
  10. Rhode Island: April 14, 1932
  11. Illinois: April 21, 1932
  12. Louisiana: June 22, 1932
  13. West Virginia: July 30, 1932
  14. Pennsylvania: August 11, 1932
  15. Indiana: August 15, 1932
  16. Texas: September 7, 1932
  17. Alabama: September 13, 1932
  18. California: January 4, 1933
  19. North Carolina: January 5, 1933
  20. North Dakota: January 9, 1933
  21. Minnesota: January 12, 1933
  22. Arizona: January 13, 1933
  23. Montana: January 13, 1933
  24. Nebraska: January 13, 1933
  25. Oklahoma: January 13, 1933
  26. Kansas: January 16, 1933
  27. Oregon: January 16, 1933
  28. Delaware: January 19, 1933
  29. Washington: January 19, 1933
  30. Wyoming: January 19, 1933
  31. Iowa: January 20, 1933
  32. South Dakota: January 20, 1933
  33. Tennessee: January 20, 1933
  34. Idaho: January 21, 1933
  35. New Mexico: January 21, 1933
  36. Missouri: January 23, 1933
    This satisfied the requirement for three-fourths of the then-existing 48 states. [8] The amendment was subsequently ratified by:
  37. Georgia: January 23, 1933
  38. Ohio: January 23, 1933
  39. Utah: January 23, 1933
  40. Massachusetts: January 24, 1933
  41. Wisconsin: January 24, 1933
  42. Colorado: January 24, 1933
  43. Nevada: January 26, 1933
  44. Connecticut: January 27, 1933
  45. New Hampshire: January 31, 1933
  46. Vermont: February 2, 1933
  47. Maryland: March 24, 1933
  48. Florida: April 26, 1933

Effects

Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment prescribes that the start and end of the four-year term of both the president and vice president shall be at noon on January 20. The change superseded the Twelfth Amendment's reference to March 4 as the date by which the House of Representatives must—under circumstances where no candidate won an absolute majority of votes for president in the Electoral College—conduct a contingent presidential election. [9] The new date reduced the period between election day in November and Inauguration Day, the presidential transition, by about six weeks. [10] Section 1 also specifies noon January 3 as the start and end of the terms of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives; the previous date had also been March 4. [11]

Section 2 moves the yearly start date of congressional sessions from the first Monday in December, as mandated by Article I, Section 4, Clause 2, to noon on January 3 of the same year, though Congress still can by law set another date and the president can summon special sessions. This change eliminated the extended lame duck congressional sessions. [12] As a result of this change, if the Electoral College vote has not resulted in the election of either a president or vice president, the incoming Congress, as opposed to the outgoing one, would conduct a contingent election, following the process set out in the Twelfth Amendment. [9]

Section 3 further refines the Twelfth Amendment by declaring that if the president-elect dies before Inauguration Day, the vice president-elect will be sworn in as president on that day and serve for the full four-year term to which that person was elected. It further states that if, on Inauguration Day, a president-elect has not yet been chosen, or if the president-elect fails to qualify, the vice president-elect would become acting president on Inauguration Day until a president-elect is chosen or the president-elect qualifies; previously, the Constitution did not say what was to be done if the Electoral College attempted to elect a constitutionally unqualified person as president.

Section 3 also authorizes Congress to determine who should be acting president if a new president and vice president have not been chosen by Inauguration Day. Acting on this authority, Congress added "failure to qualify" as a possible condition for presidential succession in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. [13] [14] The constitution had previously been silent on this point, and this lack of guidance nearly caused constitutional crises on two occasions: when the House of Representatives seemed unable to break the deadlocked election of 1800, and when Congress seemed unable to resolve the disputed election of 1876. [15] [16]

Section 4 permits Congress to statutorily clarify what should occur if either the House of Representatives must elect the president, and one of the candidates from whom it may choose dies, or if the Senate must elect the vice president and one of the candidates from whom it may choose dies. Congress has never enacted such a statute. [14] [17]

Effect on the terms of elected officials

On February 15, 1933, 23 days after the amendment was adopted, President-elect Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara. While Roosevelt was not injured, had the attempt been successful, then Vice President-elect John Nance Garner would have become president on March 4, 1933 pursuant to Section 3. [15]

Section 5 delayed Sections 1 and 2 taking effect until the first October 15 following the amendment's ratification. As it was adopted on January 23, 1933, Section 1 shortened the terms of representatives elected to the 73rd Congress (1933–1935), as well as those of senators elected for terms ending in 1935, 1937, and 1939, by 60 days, by ending those terms on January 3 of each odd-numbered year rather than the March 4 date on which those terms originally were due to expire. Section 5 also resulted in the 73rd Congress not being required to meet until January 3, 1934. [18]

The first Congress to open its first session and begin its members' terms on the new date was the 74th Congress in 1935. The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on the date appointed by the Twentieth Amendment were the second terms of President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner, on January 20, 1937. As Section 1 had shortened the first term of both (1933–1937) by 43 days, Garner thus served as vice-president for two full terms, but he did not serve a full eight years: his vice presidency spanned from March 4, 1933, to January 20, 1941.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President of the United States</span> Head of state and head of government of the United States of America

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Article One of the United States Constitution</span> Portion of the US Constitution regarding Congress as right

Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. Under Article One, Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Article One grants Congress various enumerated powers and the ability to pass laws "necessary and proper" to carry out those powers. Article One also establishes the procedures for passing a bill and places various limits on the powers of Congress and the states from abusing their powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1804 amendment regulating presidential elections

The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. It replaced the procedure in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, under which the Electoral College originally functioned. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804. The new rules took effect for the 1804 presidential election and have governed all subsequent presidential elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vice President of the United States</span> Second-highest constitutional office in the United States

The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also an officer in the legislative branch, as the president of the Senate. In this capacity, the vice president is empowered to preside over the United States Senate, but may not vote except to cast a tie-breaking vote. The vice president is indirectly elected together with the president to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College. Since the passage of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, the vice president may also be appointed by the president to fill a vacancy, via majority confirmation by both the Senate and the House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1788–89 United States presidential election</span> 1st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1788–89 United States presidential election was the first quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Monday, December 15, 1788, to Wednesday, January 7, 1789, under the new Constitution ratified that same year. George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president and John Adams became the first vice president. This was the only U.S. presidential election that spanned two calendar years without a contingent election and the first national presidential election in American history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1951 amendment limiting presidents to two terms

The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment, and its provisions came into force on that date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1961 amendment granting presidential electors to the District of Columbia

The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution extends the right to participate in presidential elections to the District of Columbia. The amendment grants to the district electors in the Electoral College, as though it were a state, though the district can never have more electors than the least-populous state. How the electors are appointed is to be determined by Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment was proposed by the 86th Congress on June 16, 1960; it was ratified by the requisite number of states on March 29, 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1967 amendment enumerating presidential succession

The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with presidential succession and disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Electoral College</span> Electors of the U.S. president and vice president

In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors under the methods described by its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation. The federal District of Columbia also has 3 electors under an amendment adopted in 1961. Federal office holders, including senators and representatives, cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, a simple majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves a majority there, a contingent election is held by the House of Representatives to elect the president and by the Senate to elect the vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaine Act</span> 1933 U.S. Congress joint resolution to repeal the 18th Amendment and end Prohibition

The Blaine Act, formally titled Joint Resolution Proposing the Twenty-First Amendment to the United States Constitution, is a joint resolution adopted by the United States Congress on February 20, 1933, initiating repeal of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established Prohibition in the United States. Repeal was finalized when the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required minimum number of states on December 5, 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment</span> Proposed U.S. constitutional amendment

The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would have given the District of Columbia full representation in the United States Congress, full representation in the Electoral College system, and full participation in the process by which the Constitution is amended. It would have also repealed the Twenty-third Amendment, which granted the District of Columbia the same number of electoral votes as that of the least populous state, but gave it no role in contingent elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">72nd United States Congress</span> 1931–1933 U.S. Congress

The 72nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1931, to March 4, 1933, during the last two years of Herbert Hoover's presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1910 United States census. The Senate had a Republican majority. The House started with a very slim Republican majority, but by the time it first met in December 1931, the Democrats had gained a majority through special elections.

Bills have been introduced in the US Congress on several occasions to amend the US Constitution to abolish or to reduce the power of the Electoral College and to provide for the direct popular election of the US president and vice president.

The president-elect of the United States is the candidate who has presumptively won the United States presidential election and is awaiting inauguration to become the president. There is no explicit indication in the U.S. Constitution as to when that person actually becomes president-elect, although the Twentieth Amendment uses the term "president-elect", thus giving the term "president-elect" constitutional justification. It is assumed the Congressional certification of votes cast by the Electoral College of the United States – occurring after the third day of January following the swearing-in of the new Congress, per provisions of the Twelfth Amendment – unambiguously confirms the successful candidate as the official "president-elect" under the U.S. Constitution. As an unofficial term, president-elect has been used by the media since at least the latter half of the 19th century, and was in use by politicians since at least the 1790s. Politicians and the media have applied the term to the projected winner, even on election night, and very few who turned out to have lost have been referred to as such.

A lame-duck session of Congress in the United States occurs whenever one Congress meets after its successor is elected, but before the successor's term begins. The expression is now used not only for a special session called after a sine die adjournment, but also for any portion of a regular session that falls after an election. In current practice, any meeting of Congress after election day, but before the next Congress convenes the following January, is a lame-duck session. Prior to 1933, when the 20th Amendment changed the dates of the congressional term, the last regular session of Congress was always a lame-duck session.

In the United States, a contingent election is used to elect the president or vice president if no candidate receives a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. A presidential contingent election is decided by a special vote of the United States House of Representatives, while a vice-presidential contingent election is decided by a vote of the United States Senate. During a contingent election in the House, each state delegation votes en bloc to choose the president instead of representatives voting individually. Senators, by contrast, cast votes individually for vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidential transition of Franklin D. Roosevelt</span> Franklin D. Roosevelts presidential transition

The presidential transition of Franklin D. Roosevelt began when he won the United States 1932 United States presidential election, becoming the president-elect of the United States, and ended when Roosevelt was inaugurated at noon EST on March 4, 1933.

There is ongoing legal debate about the constitutionality of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in the United States. At issue are interpretations of the Compact Clause of Article I, Section X, and states' plenary power under the Presidential Electors Clause of Article II, Section I.

References

  1. "Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27". Archives.gov . November 4, 2015. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  2. Ackerman, Bruce (2005). The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy . The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp.  117–8. ISBN   9780674018662.
  3. The bill originally specified a thirty-day period for the states to choose their electors. Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 278 Archived January 14, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721 Archived November 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Ackerman, Bruce (2005). The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy . The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp.  119. ISBN   9780674018662.
  6. Jackson, Michael W. (October 22, 2013). "If Woodrow Wilson had lost the 1916 election". Political theory and practice: Thinking and doing. The University of Sydney, Australia. Archived from the original on June 8, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  7. "Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, Library of Congress. August 26, 2017. pp. 3–44. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  8. "'Lame Ducks' Doom Sealed"—Missouri Is 36th State To Ratify 20th Amendment To Constitution" Archived January 14, 2021, at the Wayback Machine , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 24, 1933, p1
  9. 1 2 Whitaker, L. Paige; Neale, Thomas H. (November 5, 2004) [January 16, 2001]. "The Electoral College: An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals" (PDF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2018 via University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department; UNT Digital Library.
  10. Halchin, L. Elaine (May 17, 2017). "Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations" (PDF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  11. "The Significance of March 4". Washington, DC: Secretary of the US Senate. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  12. "The First Inauguration after the Lame Duck Amendment: January 20, 1937". Washington, DC: Office of the Historian, US House of Representatives. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  13. Larson, Edward J.; Shesol, Jeff. "The Twentieth Amendment". The Interactive Constitution. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The National Constitution Center. Archived from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  14. 1 2 "The Continuity of the Presidency: The Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission" (PDF). Preserving Our Institutions. Washington, DC: Continuity of Government Commission. June 2009. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2012 via WebCite.
  15. 1 2 Bomboy, Scott (August 11, 2017). "Five little-known men who almost became president". Constitution Daily. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Constitution Center. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  16. Ackerman, Bruce (2005). The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy . The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 77ff. ISBN   9780674018662.
  17. Kalt, Brian C. (October 26, 2017). "Of Death and Deadlocks: Section 4 of the Twentieth Amendment". Michigan State University College of Law : 18–19. SSRN   2635633.
  18. "Twentieth Amendment: Doctrine and Practice". US Constitution (Annotated). Library of Congress. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2020 via constitution.congress.gov.