[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_veuEhhb1658wti0_ZAig66JOyixENU-N9zhjLQSLfOQ.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000186","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/amendments\/25\/essays\/187\/presidential-succession\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPresidential Succession\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n      Amendment XXV\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n      \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESection 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESection 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESection 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESection 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n    \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe original Presidential Succession Clause of\u0026nbsp;the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 6)\u0026nbsp;appeared to be relatively simple in providing for\u0026nbsp;succession to the presidency. There were, however,\u0026nbsp;troubling ambiguities. What was the meaning of\u0026nbsp;\u201cinability\u201d of a president \u201cto discharge the Powers and Duties of said Office\u201d? Who determined the\u0026nbsp;existence of an \u201cinability\u201d? Did a vice president\u0026nbsp;become president for the rest of the presidential\u0026nbsp;term in the case of an inability or in the event of\u0026nbsp;death, resignation, or removal; or was he merely\u0026nbsp;\u201cacting as President\u201d? It was clear that there was\u0026nbsp;no procedure for filling a vacancy in the office of\u0026nbsp;vice president, although the Constitution authorized\u0026nbsp;Congress to legislate a line of succession to\u0026nbsp;cover situations involving the death, resignation,\u0026nbsp;removal, or inability of both the president and\u0026nbsp;vice president.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUntil the Twenty-fifth Amendment was\u0026nbsp;adopted, the nation confronted a number of\u0026nbsp;deaths in office of presidents and vice presidents,\u0026nbsp;as well as periods when presidents were disabled.\u0026nbsp;When President William Henry Harrison died\u0026nbsp;in 1841, Vice President John Tyler, asserting that\u0026nbsp;he was fully the president, ascended to the presidency\u0026nbsp;for the rest of the term, claiming that was\u0026nbsp;the proper interpretation of the clause. He insisted\u0026nbsp;that he was \u201cPresident,\u201d not \u201cActing President.\u201d\u0026nbsp;The precedent he established by assumption of the\u0026nbsp;presidency was followed by other vice presidents\u0026nbsp;when presidents died in office. These presidents\u0026nbsp;were Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G. Harding,\u0026nbsp;Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.\u0026nbsp;The vice presidents who succeeded to the office\u0026nbsp;were Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson,\u0026nbsp;Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin\u0026nbsp;Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson,\u0026nbsp;respectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the Tyler precedent was helpful in\u0026nbsp;providing for continuity and stability, it caused\u0026nbsp;future vice presidents to hesitate in asserting\u0026nbsp;any role in a case of presidential inability as\u0026nbsp;opposed to the death of the president. There\u0026nbsp;was the question of whether the vice president\u0026nbsp;succeeded to the presidency for the rest of the\u0026nbsp;term, even in a case of temporary inability, as\u0026nbsp;well as the problem of the vice president\u2019s being\u0026nbsp;seen as a usurper because of the constitutional\u0026nbsp;silence about his role in determining whether\u0026nbsp;there was an inability. This hesitancy occurred\u0026nbsp;during the eighty days when President Garfield\u0026nbsp;lay dying after being shot by an assassin in 1881,\u0026nbsp;in the period after President Woodrow Wilson\u0026nbsp;suffered a stroke in 1919, and when President\u0026nbsp;Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack,\u0026nbsp;an attack of ileitis, and then a stroke. To cope\u0026nbsp;with any future inability, President Eisenhower\u0026nbsp;and Vice President Richard M. Nixon developed\u0026nbsp;an informal protocol. Although it did not have\u0026nbsp;the force of law, it gave assurance that a case of\u0026nbsp;inability would be handled with due regard for\u0026nbsp;stability. It provided for the president to declare\u0026nbsp;his own inability and, if unable to do so, enabled\u0026nbsp;the vice president, with appropriate consultation,\u0026nbsp;to make the decision. In either event, the\u0026nbsp;vice president served as acting president until\u0026nbsp;the president recovered his powers and duties\u0026nbsp;upon his own declaration of recovery. This protocol\u0026nbsp;was followed in turn by President Kennedy\u0026nbsp;and Vice President Johnson and then by President\u0026nbsp;Johnson and Speaker John McCormack.\u0026nbsp;President Johnson and Vice President Hubert\u0026nbsp;Humphrey orally agreed to a similar arrangement,\u0026nbsp;though they executed no written letter\u0026nbsp;of agreement.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECompounding the problem of presidential\u0026nbsp;inability was the problem of vice presidential\u0026nbsp;vacancy. Such a vacancy occurred whenever a\u0026nbsp;president died in office, on the seven occasions\u0026nbsp;when vice presidents died in office, and when\u0026nbsp;Vice President John C. Calhoun resigned in\u0026nbsp;1832. In the absence of a mechanism for filling a\u0026nbsp;vacancy, a statutory line of succession provided\u0026nbsp;the necessary backup. This line changed twice in\u0026nbsp;the country\u2019s history. The original line, reflected\u0026nbsp;in a law of 1792, placed the president pro tempore\u0026nbsp;of the Senate next in line after the vice president.\u0026nbsp;In 1886 the secretary of state was made first in\u0026nbsp;line, followed by other members of the cabinet.\u0026nbsp;Then, in 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives\u0026nbsp;and president pro tempore of the\u0026nbsp;Senate, respectively, were placed ahead of the secretary\u0026nbsp;of state and all the other cabinet officers in\u0026nbsp;line, now ending with the secretary of homeland\u0026nbsp;security.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter President John F. Kennedy was assassinated\u0026nbsp;in 1963, there was a movement to constitutionalize\u0026nbsp;these practices and to provide more\u0026nbsp;certainty. The Twenty-fifth Amendment reflects\u0026nbsp;the history of succession in its provisions providing\u0026nbsp;for the vice president to become president in\u0026nbsp;the event of the death, resignation, or removal\u0026nbsp;of the president and to serve as acting president\u0026nbsp;for the duration of any inability. It allows a president\u0026nbsp;to declare his own inability and resume his\u0026nbsp;powers and duties when it has ended. This provision\u0026nbsp;has been used when presidents underwent\u0026nbsp;surgery\u2014in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan\u0026nbsp;and in 2002 and 2007 by President George W.\u0026nbsp;Bush. The transfer of presidential power to their\u0026nbsp;vice presidents was of short duration in each\u0026nbsp;case. On other occasions in the administrations\u0026nbsp;of both President George H. W. Bush and William\u0026nbsp;J. Clinton, when the president underwent\u0026nbsp;a medical procedure, consideration among the\u0026nbsp;presidential staff was given to whether he should\u0026nbsp;invoke Section 3 of the Amendment, but as neither\u0026nbsp;president underwent general anesthesia, the\u0026nbsp;need did not arise.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe president\u2019s discretion in determining\u0026nbsp;his own inability under Section 3 is broad. The\u0026nbsp;discretion of those other officials whom Section 4\u0026nbsp;empowers to declare the president disabled, however,\u0026nbsp;is more constrained. Section 4 was designed\u0026nbsp;to cover cases where the president was unable to\u0026nbsp;make or communicate a decision as to his competency.\u0026nbsp;In those situations, the vice president\u0026nbsp;with a majority of the cabinet, could declare the\u0026nbsp;president unable to execute his office, whereupon\u0026nbsp;the vice president would become acting president.\u0026nbsp;However, if the president disagrees with\u0026nbsp;the vice president and a majority of the cabinet,\u0026nbsp;and the vice president and the cabinet renew their\u0026nbsp;assertion of his inability, then Congress resolves\u0026nbsp;the issue. The amendment also gives Congress\u0026nbsp;the power to replace the cabinet and substitute\u0026nbsp;another body to function with the vice president\u0026nbsp;under Section 4.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt was not an accident that the amendment\u0026nbsp;did not define \u201cinability.\u201d It was intended\u0026nbsp;principally to cover cases of both physical and\u0026nbsp;mental inability, such as when a president undergoes\u0026nbsp;surgery, is kidnapped, or becomes infirm.\u0026nbsp;It does not cover political and policy differences\u0026nbsp;or poor judgment, incompetence, laziness, and\u0026nbsp;the like.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe amendment, recognizing the importance\u0026nbsp;of the vice presidency, added a Section 2\u0026nbsp;procedure for filling a vacancy in that office,\u0026nbsp;namely, nomination by the president and confirmation\u0026nbsp;by both houses of Congress. This procedure\u0026nbsp;was used when Vice President Spiro T.\u0026nbsp;Agnew resigned and was replaced by Gerald R.\u0026nbsp;Ford and again after Richard M. Nixon resigned\u0026nbsp;as president. Ford became president and Nelson\u0026nbsp;A. Rockefeller became vice president by the same\u0026nbsp;process. President Ford\u2019s succession to the presidency\u0026nbsp;was by virtue of Section 1 of the amendment\u0026nbsp;and not based on the Tyler precedent.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESince 1967, there have been many meetings\u0026nbsp;and studies to consider proposals to improve the\u0026nbsp;system of presidential succession including the\u0026nbsp;following: Congressional hearings in 1994, 2003,\u0026nbsp;and 2004; a commission on presidential disability,\u0026nbsp;the Miller Commission of the University of\u0026nbsp;Virginia, which in 1988 proposed guidelines\u0026nbsp;for advance planning by presidents; a Working\u0026nbsp;Group on Presidential Disability, hosted by The\u0026nbsp;Carter Center of Emory University and Wake\u0026nbsp;Forest University, which focused on the role of\u0026nbsp;doctors in cases of presidential inability; and\u0026nbsp;studies and recommendations by the Continuity\u0026nbsp;in Government Commission and a Presidential\u0026nbsp;Succession Clinic at Fordham Law School with\u0026nbsp;respect to gaps and ambiguities in the system,\u0026nbsp;such as where there was no vice president, or\u0026nbsp;the president and vice president were disabled at\u0026nbsp;the same time, or a statutory successor acting as\u0026nbsp;president became disabled.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/John_Feerick.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/law.fordham.edu\/faculty\/9938.htm\u0022\u003EJohn Feerick\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/h4\u003E\n                  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n         Norris Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000186-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000186-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000186-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n      \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000186-taba\u0022\u003E\n          \n      \u003Cdiv\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBirch Evans Bayh, One Heartbeat Away: Presidential Disability and Succession (1968)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EContinuity of Gov\u0027t Comm\u0027n, Preserving Our Institutions: The Continuity of the Presidency (Second Report 2009)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EEnsuring the Stability of Presidential Succession in the\u0026nbsp;Modern Era: Report of the Fordham University School of Law\u0027s Clinic on Presidential Succession,\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;81 Fordham L. Rev. (2012)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJohn D. Feerick,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ci\u003EThe Proposed Twenty-Fifth\u0026nbsp;Amendment to the Constitution\u003C\/i\u003E, 34 Fordham L. Rev. 173 (1965)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJohn D. Feerick, The Twenty-fifth Amendment: Its Complete History and Applications (1976 and 1994)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJoel K. Goldstein, The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution (1982)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EManaging Crisis: Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (Robert E. Gilbert ed., 2000)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERose McDermott, Presidential Leadership, Illness, and Decision Making (2008)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPresidential Disability: Papers, Discussions, and Recommendations on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and Issues of Inability and Disability in Presidents to the United States (James F. Toole and Robert J. Joint eds., 2001)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EReport of the Commission on Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;(1988), by the fourth Miller Center Commission, at http:\/\/web1.millercenter.org\/commissions\/comm_1988.pdf\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n          \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000186-tabb\u0022\u003E\n          \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000186-tabc\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000082\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresidential Succession\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000181\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresidential Terms\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]