25th Amendment Congressional Materials | Congressional Materials | Fordham Law School

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This section includes: congressional hearings, debates, and reports on presidential succession. These documents span nearly a half century, beginning with initial efforts to reform the succession system during the Eisenhower administration. They chronicle the drafting of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, a review of the Amendment’s first uses during the Watergate era, and post-9/11 efforts to ensure continuity of government.

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House Resolution Calling on Vice President Pence to Invoke 25th Amendment

House of Representatives. United States.

Resolution approved 223-205 on January 12, 2021 by the House of Representatives calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President. The resolution was introduced in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol.

Date: January 2021
50th Anniversary of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and Tribute to Birch Bayh

Joseph Donnelly

Indiana Senator Joseph Donnelly's tribute to former Senator Birch Bayh on the Senate floor on March 28, 2017. Donnelly recognizes Senator Bayh's work on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. From the Congressional Record.

Date: March 2017
Presidential Succession Act: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 108th Congress

Subcommittee on the Constitution; Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Examines the need for changes to the Presidential Succession Act which governs the transfer of power in the event that there is a simultaneous vacancy in the office of the presidency and the vice presidency.

Date: October 2004
Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession: Overview and Current Legislation

Thomas H. Neale, Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress, and Government and Finance Division. Library of Congress

Review of legislative history of Presidential and Vice Presidential succession.

Date: September 2004
Ensuring the Continuity of the United States Government: the Presidency: Joint Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Rules and Administration, Senate, 108th Congress

Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Examines concerns about the Presidential Succession Act and proposals to revise procedures for a transfer of power in case of vacancies in the offices of President and Vice President.

Date: September 2003
Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession: Overview and Current Legislation

Thomas H. Neale, Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress, and Government and Finance Division. Library of Congress

Reviews legislative history of presidential and vice presidential succession.

Date: March 2003
Hearing: Temporary Filling of House of Representatives Vacancies During National Emergencies: Hearing on H.J. Res. 67

Subcommittee on Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

House Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation that would allow state governors to temporarily appoint representatives to take the place of those who have died or become incapacitated when 25 percent or more of all representatives are unable to perform their duties.

Date: February 2002
Vice Presidential Vacancies: Congressional Procedures in the Ford and Rockefeller Nominations

Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress and Government and Finance Division. Library of Congress

This report was issued approximately a month and a half before the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. If Clinton had been impeached and removed, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment would have been used to fill the vice presidential vacancy.

Date: August 1998
Hearing: Relating to the Death of a President-Designate Between the General Election and Inauguration

Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on presidential succession in the pre-inaugural period, addressing what would happen if the winning presidential and vice presidential candidates became unavailable before they were sworn into office. The following witnesses testified at the hearing: former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh; Assistant Attorney General Walter Dillinger; Federal Election Commission Chairman Trevor Potter; Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar; and Georgetown University Professor Walter Berns.

Date: February 1994
Examination of the First Implementation of Section Two of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Hearing on S.J. Res.26 Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee of the Judiciary, Senate, 94th Congress

Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Examines effectiveness of Twenty-Fifth Amendment in providing for presidential succession and vacancies in the office of the Vice President.

Date: February 1975
Selected Materials on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Senate Document No. 93-42.

Birch Bayh and Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Compilation of Congressional documents, law review articles and legal memoranda, printed as a Senate document.

Date: October 1973
Senate Floor Debates: Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President: Conference Report

United States. Senate

Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution 1 and Conference Report No. 564. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability. A vote is held on agreeing to the conference report on Senate Joint Resolution No. 1.

Date: July 1965
Presidential Inability and Vacanies in the Office of the Vice President

United States, House of Representatives

Congressional conference report on the inability and succession of the Vice President.

Date: June 1965
House of Representatives Floor Debates: Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President

United States. House of Representatives

Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution No. 1 and Conference Report No. 564. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability.

Date: June 1965
Senate Floor Debates: Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President: Conference Report

United States. Senate

Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution 1 and Conference Report No. 564. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability.

Date: June 1965
House of Representatives Floor Debates: Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President

United States. House of Representatives

Discussion of House Resolution 314. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability.

Date: April 1965
Report on Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President, House of Representatives Report No. 89-203

Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Considers proposing an amendment to the Constitution relating to the succession to the presidency and vice presidency.

Date: March 1965
Senate Floor Debates: Presidential Disability

United States. Senate

Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution No. 1. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and disability.

Date: February 1965
Report on Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of Vice President, S. Rep. No. 89-66

Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Considers proposing an amendment to the Constitution relating to the succession to the presidency and vice presidency.

Date: February 1965
Presidential Inability: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 89th Congress

Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Considers thirty-eight resolutions relating to problems of presidential inability and filling vice presidential vacancies.

Date: February 1965
Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee of the Judiciary, Sentate, 89th Congress

Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Considers various problems connected with presidential inability and filling vacancies in the Office of the Vice President.

Date: January 1965
Senate Floor Debates: Proposed Amendment to the Constitution Relating to the Succession to Presidency and Vice Presidency

United States. Senate

Discussion of the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 139. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability.

Date: September 1964
Senate Floor Debates: Proposed Amendment to the Constitution Relating to the Succession to Presidency and Vice Presidency

United States. Senate

Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution 139. Further debate on the proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential succession and inability.

Date: September 1964
Staff of Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 84th Congress, Report on Presidential Inability

Staff of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Considers various problems connected with presidential inability.

Date: August 1964
Report on Constitutional Amendments, Senate Report No. 88-1017

Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Considers presidential inability and residence requirements for voting in presidential elections.

Date: April 1964
Presidential Inability and Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, Senate, 88th Congress

Subcomittee on Constitutional Amendments; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Text of proposed legislation, statements, and documents relating to the problem of presidential inability and vacancies in the Office of Vice President.

Date: January 1964
Presidential Inability: Hearings Before the Subcomittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, Senate, 88th Congress

Subcomittee on Constitutional Amendments; Committee on the Judiciary. Senate. United States.

Text of proposed legislation, testimony, and documents relating to the exercise of powers and duties of the presidency when the President is disabled.

Date: June 1963
Presidential Inability: Hearings Before the Subcomittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, Senate, 85th Congress

Special Subcommittee to Study Presidential Inability; Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Text of proposed legislation, testimony, and documents relating to the orderly devolution upon the Vice President of presidential powers and duties.

Date: January 1958
Presidential Inability: Hearing Before the Special Subcommittee on Study of Presidential Inability of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 85th Congress

Special Subcommittee To Study Presidential Inability; Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Text of proposed legislation, testimony, and documents relating to situations in which the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

Date: April 1957
Staff of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 85th Congress, Presidential Inability: An Analysis of Replies to a Questionnaire and Testimony at a Hearing on Presidential Inability

Staff of the Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Analysis of the material and testimony contained in the House committee print "Presidential Inability" and the hearings on presidential inability held on April 11 and 12, 1956.

Date: March 1957
Presidential Inability: Hearings Before Special Subcommittee to Study Presidential Inability of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 84th Congress

Special Subcommittee to Study Presidential Inability; Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

Explores solutions to the problem of "presidential inability".

Date: April 1956
Staff of House Committee on the Judiciary, 84th Congress, Report on Presidential Inability

Staff of the House Committee on the Judiciary

Considers various problems connected with presidential inability.

Date: January 1956
Report: Providing for the Performance of the Duties of the Office of the President in Case of the Removal, Resignation, Death, or Inability both of the President and Vice President

Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

House Judiciary Committee report on legislation to reform the Presidential Succession Act of 1886. The report includes a letter from the U.S. Attorney General analyzing pending legislative proposals.

Date: July 1947
Report: Providing for the Performance of the Duties of the Office of President in Case of the Removal, Resignation, or Inability Both of the President and Vice President

Committee on Rules and Administration. Senate. United States.

Senate Committee on Rules and Administration report on amendments to proposed legislation related to presidential succession.

Date: March 1947
Hearings: Succession to the Presidency

Committee on Rules and Administration. Senate. United States.

Senate Committee on Rules and Administration hearings on legislative proposals related to presidential succession.

Date: March 1947
Report: Election of President and Presidential Succession

Committee on Privileges and Elections. Senate. United States.

Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections report on a resolution to create a joint committee with members from the House and Senate to study issues relating to presidential succession.

Date: January 1946
Report: Question of the Presidential Succession

Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives. United States.

House Judiciary Committee report on legislation to reform the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, in part, by making legislators the next successors to the presidency after the vice president.

Date: June 1945