Amendment 25 — Presidential Succession And Debates Over The Constitutions Ratification

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Twenty-Fifth Amendment

Section 1:

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 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.

Section 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.

Section 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.

Thereafter, 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.

Delegates to the state conventions that met to consider the Constitution’s ratification discussed the Presidential Succession Clause only briefly as part of broader debates over the vice presidency.[1](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn1amd25 " 3 Jonathan Elliot, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution 486–90 (2d ed. 1836) [hereinafter Elliot’s Debates]. ") At the Virginia Convention, George Mason, who had declined to sign the Constitution at the Federal Convention, argued that the Vice President was an “unnecessary” and “dangerous officer.” [2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn2amd25 " Id. at 486. ") Mason recited the Presidential Succession Clause before expressing concerns that the Vice President, while serving as Acting President, might prevent the prompt holding of a special election to choose another President.[3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn3amd25 " Id. at 487. ") Nonetheless, Mason stated that the Constitution properly gave Congress the authority “to provide what officer shall act, in case both the President and Vice President be dead or disabled.” [4](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn4amd25 " Id. ")

Although James Madison did not respond directly to Mason’s concerns, he defended the Presidential Succession Clause at the Virginia Convention.[5](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn5amd25 " Id. at 487–88. ") Addressing the Clause’s provision on dual vacancies, Madison contended that in the rare circumstance in which both the President and Vice President died, “the election of another President [would] immediately take place.” [6](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn6amd25 " Id. ") If Congress had not called for a special election to take place immediately, then Congress would merely “continue the government in motion” by appointing an “officer” to exercise the President’s powers and duties until the next scheduled presidential election.[7](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn7amd25 " Id. at 488. For a discussion of brief and contradictory remarks on succession at other state ratifying conventions, see John D. Feerick, The Problem of Presidential Inability—Will Congress Ever Solve It?, 32 Fordham L. Rev. 73, 87–88 (1963). ")

Writing in the Federalist Papers supporting the Constitution’s ratification, Alexander Hamilton briefly alluded to the Presidential Succession Clause. Hamilton argued that the office of the vice presidency would not be “superfluous” or “mischievous.” [8](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn8amd25 " The Federalist No. 68 (Alexander Hamilton), https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp. ") Rather, in Hamilton’s view, a Vice President could beneficially and “occasionally” serve as “a substitute for the President” and in such circumstances “exercise the authorities and discharge the duties of the President.” [9](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-25/presidential-succession-and-debates-over-the-constitutions-ratification#fn9amd25 " Id. ")

Article II’s Presidential Succession Clause was ratified as part of the original Constitution in 1788. The Clause supplied rules on presidential succession and inability until the Twenty-Fifth Amendment modified these rules in 1967.

Footnotes

1

3 Jonathan Elliot, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution 486–90 (2d ed. 1836) [hereinafter Elliot’s Debates].

2

Id. at 486.

3

Id. at 487.

4

Id.

5

Id. at 487–88.

6

Id.

7

Id. at 488. For a discussion of brief and contradictory remarks on succession at other state ratifying conventions, see John D. Feerick, The Problem of Presidential Inability—Will Congress Ever Solve It?, 32 Fordham L. Rev. 73, 87–88 (1963).

8

The Federalist No. 68 (Alexander Hamilton), https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp .

9

Id.