Sunday, December 6, 2009
The 20th Amendment
0 comments"Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.
Section 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."
The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1933, and establishes the the beginning and ending of the terms of elected federal officials.
Section 1 changes the the dates of which the President's term and the Senator's and Representative's terms end to January 20th and January 3rd, respectively, and at noon. They had previously been later, such as the month of March, due to lack of quick transportation that was now available at the time of the ratification of this amendment. As such, at noon of said days, the newly elected successors shall begin their term.
Section 2 requires Congress to assemble at least once every year at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they pass a law establishing a different day. Now, of course, this section doesn't provide a duration of said assembly, allowing Congress to adjourn if only after a few minutes.
Section 3 explains that if, at the time of the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, then the Vice-President elect shall become President. If by the time of the beginning of the term of the President, a new President has not been elected, or the President-elect does not qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall temporarily act as President until a new President is decided upon. In the event that neither the President-elect nor the Vice-President elect qualify for their respective positions, then Congress may, by law declare who shall then act as President, or the manner in which such a person will be selected to act as President until a President and Vice-President have qualified.
Section 4 states that by law, Congress may provide for the case of the death of any persons from who the House of Representatives chose to serve as President should that power be appointed to them, and for the case of death of any persons from who the Senate chose to serve as Vice-President in the event that power be appointed to them.
Section 5 provides that section 1 & 2 of this amendment shall take effect on October 15th following the ratification of this amendment.
Section 6 enacts another automatic nullification of this amendment should it not be ratified within seven years of the submission of this amendment to states. However, it was ratified within that time.
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KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty ImagesThe dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.By Dick Zimmer/ Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
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Filling U.S. Senate vacancies: Democrats want to fix what's not broken
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
December 06, 2009, 5:23AM
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty ImagesThe dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.By Dick Zimmer/ Star-Ledger Guest Columnist To the Founders, a U.S. Senate seat was a position of the highest honor, to be occupied by members of the aristocracy of merit. In the 21st century, a seat in the Senate is becoming no more than political swag. In the deathless words of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, it’s a (expletive) valuable thing.
With New Jersey’s economy in critical condition, the lame-duck Legislature’s majority leadership has decided to devote time and attention to changing the rules on how we fill U.S. Senate vacancies (of which, at last report, there are none). They have suddenly discovered that a system that was perfectly serviceable for nearly a century is in urgent need of repair. Several alternatives are under consideration, but they share one common feature: they would for the first time limit our governor’s ability to fill a Senate vacancy with the person he or she deems most worthy of the job, regardless of party.
One state assemblyman has introduced a bill that would compel the governor to appoint a member of the departing Senator’s political party. Others are discussing a new law to force the governor to choose from a list of acceptable nominees supplied by — who else? — the political party bosses. They want to write partisanship into the law.
The supporters of such legislation claim that they are only incidentally motivated by the recent election of a Republican governor and that their proposals are a matter of good government and fiscal prudence.
Give us a break.
Gov.-elect Chris Christie was right when he called this a power play by a party that is losing power. And state Sen. Bill Baroni was right when he called it an insult to 85-year-old U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg. I worked as hard as I could to replace Lautenberg in last year’s election, but he beat me fair and square. We should all wish him continued good health and a long life.
This proposal is emblematic of what’s wrong with New Jersey politics. At a time when our citizens desperately need our state government to find solutions to our harrowing problems without regard to political party or personal ambition, this proposal epitomizes the continued dominance of thumb-in-your-eye partisanship and shameless self-interest.
The Founders tried to insulate the Senate from the rough-and-tumble of the democratic process by having its members appointed by state legislatures rather than directly elected by the people. But, by the early 20th century, the logrolling, hyper-partisanship and outright corruption that often attended that selection process helped lead to the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, which requires the popular election of all U.S. Senators.
Earlier this year, we were reminded of the continuing capacity of state legislatures to rise above principle. The Massachusetts legislature unblushingly repealed the law it had passed only five years earlier to keep a Republican governor from appointing a Republican successor to Sen. John Kerry so that a Democratic governor could appoint a Democratic successor to the late Sen.Edward Kennedy. New Jersey’s legislature should not join Massachusetts as an object of well-earned national derision.
It may be useful to examine how we can improve our process of filling Senate vacancies. But that can’t be done in a feverish lame-duck legislative session. There will be plenty of time for the new legislature and governor to reach a sensible solution after they are sworn in next month.
I chose this article because it deals with vacancies in the Senate.
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Until then, the Legislature should attend to more urgent matters. If the existing law was good enough for Gov. Jon Corzine, who used it to appoint Sen. Bob Menendez, it should be good enough for governor-elect Christie.
Former congressman Dick Zimmer, New Jersey’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2008, is an independent public policy consultant and practicing attorney
I chose this video because it is a dramatic reading of the 20th amendment.
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