The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 25 (25th Amendment – Presidential Disability and Succession)

The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 25 (Twenty-Fifth Amendment)

Amendment XXV. (Presidential Disability and Succession)

Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.

Note: Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was affected by the 25th amendment.

Section 1.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

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.

More

• The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27, from The National Archives
• Twenty-fifth Amendment – CRS Annotated Constitution
• Twenty-fifth Amendment – Wikipedia
• Twenty-fifth Amendment – Findlaw
• Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Govinfo.gov
• Chapter 8.H. 25th Amendment in Congressional Procedure
• Election Capitol Hill Workshop
• Mid-Term Election (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• “7 stages of the office seeker“
• Vice President (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• Speaker (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• President Pro Tempore (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• President of the Senate (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• Presidential Succession (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• Presidential Succession Act, Senate
• Presidents of the United States – White House
• “The First Day of a New Congress: A Guide to Proceedings on the Senate Floor,” CRS Report RS20722 (14-page PDF)
• “Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession,” CRS Report RL31761 (30-page PDF)
• “The President-Elect: Succession and Disability Issues During the Transition Period,” CRS Report RS22992 (8-page PDF)
• “Continuity of Operations (COOP) in the Executive Branch: Issues in the 109th Congress,” CRS Report RL32752 (26-page PDF)
• “Continuity of Congress: Enacted and Proposed Federal Statutes for Expedited Election to the House in Extraordinary Circumstances,” CRS Report RL32958 (16-page PDF)
• “Continuity of Government: Current Federal Arrangements and the Future,” CRS Report RS21089 (8-page PDF)
• “Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress: Perspectives and Contemporary Analysis,” CRS Report R40504 (24-page PDF)
• “Presidential Elections: Vacancies in Major-Party Candidacies and the Position of President-Elect,” CRS Report R44648 (14-page PDF)
• “Presidential Disability Under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Constitutional Provisions and Perspectives for Congress,” CRS Report R45394 (39-page PDF)
• “Presidential Succession: Perspectives and Contemporary Issues for Congress,” CRS Report R46450 (36-page PDF)
• “The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Sections 3 and 4—Presidential Disability,” CRS InFocus IF11756 (5-page PDF)
• Presidential Succession – Heritage Guide to the Constitution

A free download of our Pocket Constitution is available on Scribd.

Our Pocket Constitution: details on our web site.

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Its Complete History and Applications	Managing Crisis: Presidential Disability and the Twenty–Fifth Amendment	The President Has Been Shot: Confusion, Disability, and the 25th Amendment in the Aftermath of the Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan	Papers on Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment: By Medical, Historical, and Political Authorities
America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By	America’s Constitution: A Biography	What America Was Really Like In 1776	The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction
The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of Its Most Curious Provisions	Living Originalism	Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788	Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights against Progressive Reform
The Upside-Down Constitution	The Founders’ Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It	Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law	The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
The Radicalism of the American Revolution	The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787	The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers	The Constitution Made Easy: A Tea Partier’s Guide
The U.S. Constitution: A Reader	The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution	Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion	Logical Foundations of Constitutional Liberty
The Calculus of Consent	Capitalism and Freedom	The Road to Serfdom	The Anti-Federalist Papers And The Constitutional Convention Debates