Presidential Succession Essays - , Term Papers

Presidential Succession Presidential Succession, is a term that describes the arrangements under which presidential authority in the United States may be transferred other than by means of the quadrennial presidential ELECTION. Specifically, it embraces those procedures that apply to cases involving the death, resignation, removal, or inability of a PRESIDENT or VICE PRESIDENT, and the death or failure to qualify of a president-elect or vice president-elect. These procedures are defined in three parts of the U. S. CONSTITUTION--Article II, Section 1, Clause 6; the 20th Amendment; and the 25th Amendment--and in the presidential-succession law passed by Congress in 1947. The importance of a system of presidential succession has been demonstrated repeatedly throughout American history, but especially in the 20th century. Between 1901 and 1974, five vice presidents became president as a result of four presidential deaths and one resignation. In the 19th century four other vice presidents became president after a president's death. Between 1841 and 1975, more than one third of the presidents either died in office, resigned, or became disabled. Of the elected vice presidents, seven have died in office and two have resigned. Altogether, the second office has been vacant for more than 37 years. Present System Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, as supplemented by Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, provides that the vice president becomes president in the event of the death, resignation, or removal of the president. When any of these contingencies occurs, the vice president takes the presidential oath and serves as president for the rest of the term. Section 2 of the 25th Amendment prescribes a procedure for filling a vice-presidential vacancy. The president nominates a vice president, who must be confirmed by a majority vote of each House of CONGRESS. Sections 3 and 4 of the 25th Amendment deal with a case in which some condition or circumstance, such as a physical or mental inability, prevents the president from discharging his powers and duties. These sections make clear that in a case of inability, the vice president simply discharges the powers and duties of president until the president recovers from the inability. Section 3 allows the president to declare the beginning and ending of his own inability. Section 4, covering the case in which the president is unable to make or communicate a decision of inability, authorizes the vice president and a majority of the cabinet "or of such other body as Congress may by law provide" to declare the existence of such an inability. When an inability is declared under Section 4, the president is prevented from resuming his powers and duties for a period of four days from the time he declares the end of such an inability. If during the four-day period the vice president and cabinet should dispute the president's declaration of recovery, the Congress must then decide the issue. It has a maximum of 21 days to do so, and a two-thirds vote of each house is required to prevent the president from resuming his powers and duties. During the period Congress has to decide, the vice president continues to act as president. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 also authorizes Congress to establish a line of succession to the presidency in the event of simultaneous vacancies in the offices of president and vice president. Pursuant to this provision, Congress adopted a law in 1947 that places the following persons in the line of succession after the vice president: first the Speaker of the House, then the president pro tempore of the Senate, and then the members of the cabinet in the order in which their departments were created. The 20th Amendment provides for other contingencies. In the event of the death of a president-elect, it provides that the vice president-elect shall become president for the full term. If a president-elect fails to qualify--for example, by falling short of residency or age requirements--then the vice president-elect acts as president until the president qualifies. The amendment further authorizes Congress to provide for the death or failure to qualify of both the president-elect and vice president-elect, which Congress has done in the succession law of 1947. Presidential Inability Before the adoption of the 25th Amendment in 1967, the cornerstone of the U. S. presidential succession system was found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, which provides: "In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may