Amendment XX
Presidential, Congressional Terms
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1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
2. 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.
3. 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; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the 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.
4. 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.
5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.
6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.
Ratified: January 23, 1933
The 20th Amendment, which sets the dates for the beginning of congressional and presidential terms, was proposed on March 2, 1932.
| # | State | Date | * |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | Mar 4, 1932 | |
| 2 | New York | Mar 11, 1932 | |
| 3 | Mississippi | Mar 16, 1932 | |
| 4 | Arkansas | Mar 17, 1932 | |
| 5 | Kentucky | Mar 17, 1932 | |
| 6 | New Jersey | Mar 21, 1932 | |
| 7 | South Carolina | Mar 25, 1932 | |
| 8 | Michigan | Mar 31, 1932 | |
| 9 | Maine | Apr 1, 1932 | |
| 10 | Rhode Island | Apr 14, 1932 | |
| 11 | Illinois | Apr 21, 1932 | |
| 12 | Louisiana | Jun 22, 1932 | |
| 13 | West Virginia | Jul 30, 1932 | |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | Aug 11, 1932 | |
| 15 | Indiana | Aug 15, 1932 | |
| 16 | Texas | Sep 7, 1932 | |
| 17 | Alabama | Sep 13, 1932 | |
| 18 | California | Jan 4, 1933 | |
| 19 | North Carolina | Jan 5, 1933 | |
| 20 | North Dakota | Jan 9, 1933 | |
| 21 | Minnesota | Jan 12, 1933 | |
| 22 | Arizona | Jan 13, 1933 | |
| 23 | Montana | Jan 13, 1933 | |
| 24 | Nebraska | Jan 13, 1933 | |
| 25 | Oklahoma | Jan 13, 1933 | |
| 26 | Kansas | Jan 16, 1933 | |
| 27 | Oregon | Jan 16, 1933 | |
| 28 | Delaware | Jan 19, 1933 | |
| 29 | Washington | Jan 19, 1933 | |
| 30 | Wyoming | Jan 19, 1933 | |
| 31 | Iowa | Jan 20, 1933 | |
| 32 | South Dakota | Jan 20, 1933 | |
| 33 | Tennessee | Jan 20, 1933 | |
| 34 | Idaho | Jan 21, 1933 | |
| 35 | New Mexico | Jan 21, 1933 | |
| 36 | Georgia | Jan 23, 1933 | |
| 37 | Missouri | Jan 23, 1933 | |
| 38 | Ohio | Jan 23, 1933 | |
| 39 | Utah | Jan 23, 1933 | * |
| 40 | Massachusetts | Jan 24, 1933 | |
| 41 | Wisconsin | Jan 24, 1933 | |
| 42 | Colorado | Jan 24, 1933 | |
| 43 | Nevada | Jan 26, 1933 | |
| 44 | Connecticut | Jan 27, 1933 | |
| 45 | New Hampshire | Jan 31, 1933 | |
| 46 | Vermont | Feb 2, 1933 | |
| 47 | Maryland | Mar 24, 1933 | |
| 48 | Florida | Apr 26, 1933 | |
| Ratified in 327 days | |||
History: The term "Lame Duck" originates in the mid 1700's. It is applied to an elected official who has not been reelected, but still holds office. For example, in the United States today, the President is elected in November, and inaugurated in January of the following year - the time in between if the President was not reelected, is the lame duck period. Early in the political history of the nation, the period between the election and swearing-in of elected officials was a small issue. With slow methods of transportation and the nature of the politician in the 18th century, the lame duck period was almost a necessity. In fact, once the November election was established, it was more than a year before newly elected congressmen met in December.
But from the start, the lame duck period was a problem, most famously illustrated in the Marbury v Madison case, where lame-duck appointments by out-going President John Adams set the stage for a landmark Supreme Court decision with his series of late-night, last-minute appointments. The 20th Amendment cleared up this problem to a degree, by shortening the lame duck period. The Congress is sworn in on January 3 following the election, and the President is sworn in on January 20, rather than the March 4th proscribed in the 12th Amendment. The Amendment also closes a gap in Presidential power by specifying what will happen if a President-elect dies before he is sworn in. The 20th Amendment was passed by Congress on March 2, 1932, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1933 (327 days).
The 20th reached some notoriety during the impeachment proceedings of President Bill Clinton in 1998; the final House vote was taken after the 1998 elections, and the Senate was not scheduled to hear the case until after the swearing-in of the next Congress in 1999. Arguments that the 20th conceptually required a revote by the new House were fruitless, however.
