Amendment XX

Amendment XX
“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.
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.
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.
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.”

Section 1 of this amendment states that the President and Vice President’s term is to end on January 20, and the Senators and Reps on Jan 3rd.
Section 2 states that Congress is to meet once a year at noon on January 3rd.
Section 3 states that if the President dies, then the Vice-President, and if the President doesn’t qualify or isn’t chosen by the beginning of his term, the Vice President becomes President until the President qualifies. Congress has the power to determine that no President or Vice President qualifies, in which case Congress would appoint someone until a qualifying candidate is chosen and they have to act as such.
Section 4 states that the H of R chooses the President in time of death and the Senate chooses the VP. Congress takes over if there is death within those selections.
Section 5 says when sections 1 and 2 take effect.
Section 6 states that this articles needs to ratified and voted on.

This is a lengthy amendment because it gives instruction for a rare but critical event that could happen. Although it’s not something that happens often, it is nice to have law in place for in case it does happen.



This is a short definition of the 20th Amendment but I like that it included the Succession Act because although I heard of it before I didn’t know much about it. The 20th Amendment deals with succession so I thought it would be interesting to include some information about succession further than just the Vice President.



I included this amendment because it gives a bit more detailed look into what the Lame Duck time of Congress means and why that is the nickname of the 20th Amendment. The video makes the amendment more relevant because it talks about the time in which Pres. Obama was elected and how this is lame duck time as they wait for January and wonder if Bush will veto any legislation passed.