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Page 1 of Amendment XXV in the National Archives

Page 2 of the amendment

The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President, as opposed to an Acting President, if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.[1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified in 1967.[2]

Text

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.

Background

Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution states:

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 by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

That clause was unclear regarding Presidential succession or inability; it did not state who had the power to declare a President incapacitated.[1] Also, it did not provide a mechanism for filling a Vice Presidential vacancy prior to the next Presidential election. The vagueness of this clause caused difficulties many times before the Twenty-fifth Amendment's adoption:

• In 1841, President William Henry Harrison became the first U.S. President to die in office. Vice President John Tyler asserted that he had succeeded to the office of President, as opposed to only obtaining its powers and duties. He also declined to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President". Despite some strong calls against it, Tyler took the oath of office, becoming the tenth President. Tyler's claim was not formally challenged and so the precedent of full succession was established.[3] This became known as the "Tyler Precedent".

• There had been many occasions when a President was incapacitated. For example, following President Wilson's stroke no one officially assumed the Presidential powers and duties.[1]

• The office of Vice President had been vacant sixteen times due to the death or resignation of either the President or Vice President.[1]

All of these incidents made it evident that clearer guidelines were needed.[1] There were two proposals for providing those guidelines:

Keating-Kefauver proposal

In 1963, Senator Kenneth Keating of New York proposed a Constitutional amendment which would have enabled the Congress to enact legislation providing for how to determine when a President is disabled, rather than, as the Twenty-fifth Amendment does, having the Constitution so provide.[4] This proposal was based upon a recommendation of the American Bar Association in 1960.[5]

The text of the proposal reads:[6]

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.

In the Senate, concerns were raised that the Congress could either abuse such authority[7] or neglect to enact any such legislation after the adoption of this proposal.[8] Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver (the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments), a long-time advocate for addressing the disability question, spearheaded the effort until he died because of a heart attack on August 10, 1963.[9][10]

Bayh-Celler proposal

On January 6, 1965, Senator Birch Bayh (Kefauver's successor as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments) proposed in the Senate and Representative Emanuel Celler (Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) proposed in the House of Representatives what would become the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Their proposal specified the process by which a President could be declared disabled, thereby making the Vice President an Acting President, and by which he could regain the powers of that office. Also, their proposal provided a way to fill a vacancy in the office of Vice President before the next presidential election. This was as opposed to the Keating-Kefauver proposal, which did not provide for filling a vacancy in the office of Vice President prior to the next presidential election or itself provide a process for determining presidential disability. In 1964, the American Bar Association endorsed the type of proposal which Bayh and Celler advocated.[11]

On February 19, the Senate passed the amendment, but the House passed a different version of the amendment on April 13. On July 6, after a conference committee ironed out differences between the versions,[12] the final version of the amendment was passed by both Houses of the Congress and presented to the states for ratification.[13]

Proposal and ratification

The Congress proposed the Twenty-fifth Amendment on July 6, 1965 and the amendment was ratified by the following states:[2]

1. Nebraska (July 12, 1965)
2. Wisconsin (July 13, 1965)
3. Oklahoma (July 16, 1965)
4. Massachusetts (August 9, 1965)
5. Pennsylvania (August 18, 1965)
6. Kentucky (September 15, 1965)
7. Arizona (September 22, 1965)
8. Michigan (October 5, 1965)
9. Indiana (October 20, 1965)
10. California (October 21, 1965)
11. Arkansas (November 4, 1965)
12. New Jersey (November 29, 1965)
13. Delaware (December 7, 1965)
14. Utah (January 17, 1966)
15. West Virginia (January 20, 1966)
16. Maine (January 24, 1966)
17. Rhode Island (January 28, 1966)
18. Colorado (February 3, 1966)
19. New Mexico (February 3, 1966)
20. Kansas (February 8, 1966)
21. Vermont (February 10, 1966)
22. Alaska (February 18, 1966)
23. Idaho (March 2, 1966)
24. Hawaii (March 3, 1966)
25. Virginia (March 8, 1966)
26. Mississippi (March 10, 1966)
27. New York (March 14, 1966)
28. Maryland (March 23, 1966)
29. Missouri (March 30, 1966)
30. New Hampshire (June 13, 1966)
31. Louisiana (July 5, 1966)
32. Tennessee (January 12, 1967)
33. Wyoming (January 25, 1967)
34. Washington (January 26, 1967)
35. Iowa (January 26, 1967)
36. Oregon (February 2, 1967)
37. Minnesota (February 10, 1967)
38. Nevada (February 10, 1967)

Ratification was completed on February 10, 1967. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:

1. Connecticut (February 14, 1967)
2. Montana (February 15, 1967)
3. South Dakota (March 6, 1967)
4. Ohio (March 7, 1967)
5. Alabama (March 14, 1967)
6. North Carolina (March 22, 1967)
7. Illinois (March 22, 1967)
8. Texas (April 25, 1967)
9. Florida (May 25, 1967)

The following states have not ratified the amendment:

1. North Dakota
2. Georgia
3. South Carolina

Just six days after its submission, Nebraska and Wisconsin were the first states to ratify the amendment. On February 10, 1967, Minnesota and Nevada were the 37th and 38th states to ratify, respectively. On February 23, 1967, in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, General Services Administrator Lawson Knott certified the amendment's adoption.

Effect

Section 1: Presidential succession

Section 1 codified the "Tyler Precedent" regarding when a President is removed from office, dies or resigns. In any of those situations, the Vice President immediately becomes President.

Section 2: Vice Presidential vacancy

The Constitution did not provide for Vice Presidential vacancies until the Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted. The Vice Presidency has been vacant several times due to death, resignation, or succession to the Presidency. Often these vacancies lasted for many years.