In Case of Death

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Section 4 of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:  “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.”  This provision simply says that Congress will decide how the House of Representatives and/or the House will proceed in case they have been tasked with choosing a President of Vice President and one of the candidates dies before a selection is made.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained:  “It will be recalled that in the event the House must select the President, it makes its choice from among the three top candidates.  In the event one of these should die before the choice was made, there was no clear-cut procedure to guide the House from that point on.  This provision enables the Congress to set up a procedure.  It also authorizes the Congress to provide for a situation where two candidates are being considered for Vice President but the selection process is disrupted because one of them dies.

                “All of this may seem somewhat technical, but should these circumstances actually arise, this provision could be of critical importance in transferring power from one administration to another.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 754.)

Acting President

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from the Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:  “… and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or 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.”  This provision gives the people the right to have an acting President appointed if neither the President-elect nor the Vice President-elect qualifies for the office.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained:  “It is conceivable that a situation could arise where neither the President nor the Vice President could get a majority vote as required by the Constitution.  This could easily occur if a multitude of political parties suddenly appeared on the scene….

                “This provision anticipates such a situation and provides the necessary legal remedy to prevent a lapse of leadership during the qualifying process.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 753.)

Death of President-Elect

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:  “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….”  This provision in the Constitution insures there will be a President of the United States in spite of whatever may happen.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained, “The office of President of the United States is the most powerful political assignment in the world.  The demands of living in an atomic age make it mandatory that this office remain functional at all times.  The authors of this amendment recognized that there was a weakness in the transitional procedure as power is transferred from the incumbent President to the President-elect.  A variety of mishaps might occur to prevent the new President from taking over – including the discovery of some disability.  This provision was designed to fill this void.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 752.)

                John Copeland Nagle of The Heritage Foundation further explained, “Sections 3 and 4 [of this amendment] address an issue unrelated to the concern about lame-duck Congresses, namely, the circumstances in which the President or the President-elect dies.  In the words of Senator [George W.] Norris, Sections 3 and 4 ensure that `there can never arise a contingency where the country will be without a chief magistrate or without the method of selecting a chief magistrate.’  The nation has never had the occasion to put Senator Norris’s confidence to the test….”

(See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 420.)

Congressional Sessions

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Section 2 of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:  “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.”  This provision states that Congress is required to meet together at least once each year and may select a different day of meeting other than January 3.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained, “There are always unforeseen circumstances which make it desirable to allow the Congress to adjust its opening session to an earlier or later time if necessary.  The possibility of war or other exigency might also make the change of date desirable.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 752.)

Congressional Terms

                The topic of discussion on this Constitution Monday comes from the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:  “… the terms of Senators and Representatives [shall end] at noon on the 3d day of January … and the terms of their successors shall then begin.”  This provision of the Constitution gives newly elected Senators and Representatives the right to assume the duties of their offices on the third day of January following their election in November.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained, “After the Constitution was ratified by the required number of states, the new government officially began operation on March 4, 1789.  Therefore, the terms of Senators and Congressmen always began and ended on March 4 in odd-numbered years.  Because Article I, section 4, clause 2 of the Constitution required sessions of Congress to begin on the first Monday in December each year, those who were defeated in the November elections (always in even-numbered years) were required to attend the next session until their terms expired the following March 4.  Referred to as `lame ducks,’ they continued to represent people who had refused to elect them.

                “Those who had won the November elections were not entitled to take office until their predecessors’ terms had expired.  Therefore, since the next Congress would not assemble in regular session until the December following March 4, they were not able to take office for more than thirteen months after the election was held!

                “The Twentieth Amendment solved this serious problem by enabling newly elected Senators and Congressmen to take office on January 3, some two months after their election instead of the former thirteen months.”  (See The Making America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 750.)

                John Copeland Nagle of The Heritage Foundation added further reasoning:  “The six clauses of the Twentieth Amendment are readily divided into three pairs.  The first two sections shorten the `lame-duck’ period after an election and before the new officials take office….

                “The first two sections respond to the initial purpose for the amendment, which was the concern about lame-duck sessions of Congress.  The framers of the Twentieth Amendment, however, wanted to eliminate such lame-duck sessions of Congress altogether, not just shorten them.  Legislation enacted by lame-duck Congresses had been roundly criticized as undemocratic because the people had already selected the successors of the representatives who were enacting bills in lame-duck sessions.  The text of the amendment failed to prohibit future lame-duck sessions, though, and that purpose was forgotten soon after the states ratified the amendment in 1933.” 

                Nagle continued his article by stating that “Congress met in lame-duck sessions thirteen times since the Twentieth Amendment became law.”  Some of the actions taken by lame-duck sessions include:  (1) Senate confirmation of Stephen G. Breyer as a federal appeals judge in 1980; (2) House impeachment of Bill Clinton after the 1998 election.

                Nagle continued, “There is another question that the framers of the Twentieth Amendment anticipated but which the language of the amendment fails to resolve.  According to the Twelfth Amendment, the House of Representatives chooses the President if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes.  Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Rutherford B. Hayes were all elected by the House – more specifically, the lame-duck House, not the newly elected House.  The supporters of the Twentieth Amendment wanted to ensure that any future selections of the President would be made by the new Members of the House.  The text of the amendment does not express that purpose, and the question of which House could act was one of many unanswered constitutional questions discussed while the presidential election of 2000 was still in dispute.  (See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, pp. 419-420.)

Executive Terms

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of United States:  “The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20^th day of January [following their November elections]….”  This provision gave the date and time for the change of power as well as gave the President and Vice President the authority to assume their respective offices.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained, “Thus, the Twentieth Amendment not only eliminated the `lame duck’ sessions of Congress, and but it also shortened the interval between the convening of Congress and the inauguration of the President and Vice President from three months (first Monday in December to March 4) to less than three weeks (January 3 to January 20).

                “One reason for the long intervening period originally provided for was the assumption that in the event that none of the candidates had a majority of electoral votes, it might take the members of the House a considerable amount of time to decide which of the candidates would be President.  If the same problem existed for the Vice President, the Senate would need sufficient time to evaluate the candidates and make its selection for that off. 

                “However, the development of a strong two-party system in the United States has consistently provided a majority for the winning candidates, making January 3 to January 20 a sufficient interval for Congress to assemble, organize, and count the electoral votes before the incoming President and Vice President take office.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, 751.)

                John Copeland Nagle of The Heritage Foundation explained further, “The Twentieth Amendment appears simply to embody minor structural changes to the Constitution.  That the amendment was ratified by the states more quickly than any other constitutional amendment before or since supports this impression of an uncontroversial technical revision.  So does the absence of litigation surrounding the meaning of the amendment.  But the Twentieth Amendment became part of the Constitution only after decades of congressional debate, and its meaning was debated as recently as the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton by the United States House of Representatives in December 1998….” (See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 419.)