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Amendment XXV (the Twenty-fifth Amendment) of the United States Constitution clarifies an ambiguous provision of the Constitution regarding succession to the Presidency, and established procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President as well as responding to Presidential disabilities.
Authorship and RatificationThe amendment was proposed in Congress on January 4 (House version, proposed by Rep. Emanuel Celler) and January 6, 1965 (Senate version, drafted by Sen. Birch Bayh). Hearings were held through February 19, when the Senate passed the amendment (then known as "Senate Joint Resolution 1") by a unanimous, 72-0 vote. The House passed a modified form of the amendment on April 13 by a 368-29 margin, and after a conference committee ironed out differences between the versions, on July 6, 1965 the final version of the amendment was passed by the Senate and presented to the states for ratification. Just six days after its submission, Wisconsin (by an 84-11 margin in the House and 28-0 in the state Senate) and Nebraska were the first states to ratify the amendment. On February 10, 1967, Minnesota and Nevada were the 37th and 38th states to ratify, and in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, General Services Administrator Lawson Knott certified that the amendment was part of the United States Constitution on February 23, 1967. Text of the Amendment
Vacancies in offices of President, Vice PresidentAs originally ratified, the United States Constitution stated that in the event the office of President became vacant, "the Powers and Duties of the office shall devolve upon the Vice President." This language was somewhat ambiguous in the eyes of some: was the Vice President merely acting as President, or did he actually succeed to the office? While this question was answered by precedent when John Tyler succeeded to the office upon William Henry Harrison's death in 1841, there still remained doubts in the minds of some. Section 1 of the 25th amendment clarified the position once and for all: the Vice President becomes President if the presidency is vacated. Since ratification of the amendment there has been one presidential vacancy, when Gerald Ford succeeded Richard Nixon upon Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. The Constitution failed to provide for Vice Presidential vacancies until the 25th amendment was ratified - a glaring omission that had been debated for over a century, as from 1789 to 1967 the office of Vice President was vacant due to death or resignation several times, often for years at a time. Under the 25th amendment, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of Vice President of the United States, the President nominates a successor, who is confirmed by the majority vote of both houses of Congress. Vacancies in the offices of both the President and the Vice President are filled according to the presidential line of succession. Inability of the President to serveThe question of how a Presidential inability was to be ascertained was resolved by the Twenty-fifth Amendment. James Garfield was incapacitated for eighty days before dying from an assassin's bullet; a stroke rendered Woodrow Wilson an invalid for the last eighteen months of his term. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment addressed the issue by providing that the President may, by transmitting to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration to the same effect, declare himself unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Until the President sends another written declaration to the aforementioned officers declaring himself able to resume office, the Vice President serves as Acting President. It is also possible for the Vice President, together with a majority of the heads of the executive departments (that is to say, members of Cabinet) or of such other body as Congress by law provides, to declare the President disabled. The provision has never been invoked. The President may resume his duties by a written declaration sent to the President pro tempore and the Speaker. If the Vice President and Cabinet, however, are still unsatisfied with the President's condition, they may within four days of the President's declaration submit another declaration that the President is incapacitated. Congress must immediately decide the issue; a two-thirds vote in each House is required to permit the Vice President to assume the Acting Presidency. Invocations of AmendmentThe 25th Amendment has been invoked on four occasions in American history: Nomination of Vice PresidentOn two occasions, Presidents have invoked Section 2 of the amendment to fill a vacancy in the office of Vice President:
Vice President as Acting PresidentOn two occasions, the Vice President of the United States has discharged the powers and duties of the office of President: July 13, 1985On July 12, 1985, President Ronald Reagan underwent a colonoscopy, during which a pre-cancerous lesion called a villous adenoma was discovered. Upon being told by his physician (Dr. Edward Cattow) that he could undergo surgery immediately or in two to three weeks, Reagan elected to have it removed immediately. That afternoon, Reagan consulted with White House counsel Fred Fielding by telephone, debating whether or not to invoke the 25th amendment and if so, whether such a transfer would set an undesirable precedent. Fielding and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan both recommended that Reagan transfer power, and two letters doing so were drafted: the first specifically referencing Section 3 of the 25th amendment, the second not. At 10:32 a.m. on July 13, Reagan signed the second letter and ordered its delivery to the appropriate officers as required under the amendment. Due to some confusing language and Reagan's failure to specifically mention Section 3 of the amendment (see Reagan transfer of power letters) in his letter, some constitutional scholars have claimed that Reagan did not actually transfer his power to Bush. However, in books such as "The President Has Been Shot: Confusion, Disability and the 25th Amendment," by Herbert Abrams, and Reagan's autobiography, "An American Life," Reagan's intent to transfer power to Bush was clear. June 29, 2002On the morning of June 29, 2002, President George W. Bush chose to invoke the 25th amendment, temporarily transferring his powers to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush underwent a colonoscopy. Aware of the confusion caused by Reagan's 1985 letter, Bush made a point of specifically citing Section 3 of the 25th amendment in his letter transferring power. Other Versions of AmendmentThe first draft of Senate Joint Resolution 1, the legislation that would ultimately be ratified as the 25th amendment, was preceded by two other attempts to pass a constitutional amendment regarding Presidential succession: Senate Joint Resolution 35 and Senate Joint Resolution 139: Senate Joint Resolution 35 (1963)Senate Joint Resolution 35 was proposed by Senator Kenneth Keating of New York, and received the recommendation of the American Bar Association. Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver (the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments), a long-time advocate for addressing the disability question, spearheaded the effort initially but died of a heart attack on August 10, 1963, in effect killing the amendment. Rather than to resolve the questions of presidential succession and disability however, the proposed amendment's text seemed only to solidify confusion on those topics. The text of the amendment read: In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the said office shall devolve on the Vice President. In case of the inability of the President to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the said powers and duties shall devolve on the Vice President, until the inability be removed. The Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then be President, or, in case of inability, act as President, and such officer shall be or act as President accordingly, until a President shall be elected or, in case of inability, until the inability shall be earlier removed. The commencement and termination of any inability shall be determined by such method as Congress shall by law provide. Senate Joint Resolution 139 (1963)Senate Joint Resolution 139 was proposed by Senators Bayh of Indiana (who had succeeded Kefauver as chair of the Constitutional Amendments subcommittee) and Long of Missouri. Where Senate Joint Resolution 35 had been seen by some as too vague in terms relating to presidential succession and disability, this legislation was seen as to constrictive by some, as it in essence aped the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The text of the amendment read:
Joint Resolution 1 (1965)House Joint Resolution 1 was proposed by Representative Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on January 4, 1965, and Senate Joint Resolution 1 was proposed by Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana on January 6, 1965. These resolutions ultimately lead to what became the 25th amendment. Original Form of Joint Resolution 1 (both House and Senate versions)Sections 1 and 2 went unchanged throughout the amendment's passage through Congress, and consequently are not repeated. Sections 3, 4 and 5 in their original form read as follows:
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