Constitution
The Twentieth Amendment: The Lame Duck Amendment
The Twentieth Amendment moved the start of presidential and congressional terms to January and set rules for when a President-elect dies or fails to qualify.
The text
Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.
Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was superseded by section 3.
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.
Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was superseded by section 3.
In plain English
Section 1: new term dates. Presidential and vice-presidential terms end at noon on January 20. Terms of senators and representatives end at noon on January 3. Before this, terms began on March 4, a date set by the Confederation Congress.
Section 2: Congress meets. Congress must assemble at least once a year, beginning at noon on January 3, unless it sets a different day by law. This replaced the first Monday in December in Article I, Section 4.
Section 3: failure to qualify. If the President-elect dies before the term begins, the Vice President-elect becomes President. If no President has been chosen by the start of the term, or the President-elect fails to qualify, the Vice President-elect acts as President until one qualifies. Congress may provide for the case where neither qualifies.
Section 4: contingent elections. Congress may provide for the death of any person from whom the House or Senate may choose under the 12th Amendment.
Sections 5 and 6: Sections 1 and 2 take effect the next October 15; the Amendment must be ratified within seven years.
What the Founders said
The old calendar made sense in 1789, when travel by horse and ship took weeks. A member elected in November would not take the seat until the following March. Under the original schedule, the Congress that met in December after an election was the "short session" of a body that had just been defeated at the polls, hence the "lame duck" label.
Hamilton and Madison did not address the point, which only became a problem as communication improved. The movement for reform, led by Senator George Norris of Nebraska, began in 1923 and was ratified in 1933. Congress passed the Amendment in 1932, and it was ratified on January 23, 1933.
The first President to take office on January 20 was Franklin Roosevelt, at his second inauguration in 1937.
How the courts have read it
There is very little case law on the Twentieth Amendment. Section 3's rules on the failure of a President-elect to qualify have never been applied in a presidential transition.
The Amendment's practical effects are mainly seen in the calendar: the shortened period between election and inauguration, and the January 3 convening of each new Congress, which has been in place since 1935.
Why it matters now
The Twentieth Amendment is a good example of a constitutional fix that made the system more accountable. Voters now see the people they elected take their seats within two months, not four. The period in which a defeated majority could act on its own authority has been cut short, and the President's term is more closely tied to the election result.
A lame-duck session still exists in a shorter form, from November to January. Lame-duck sessions have produced major legislation on both sides of the aisle, and conservatives have criticized the use of omnibus spending bills passed in December by outgoing majorities. The Amendment did not abolish the problem, but it narrowed it.
Section 3 is also relevant to the question of how smoothly power transfers. The Framers' design relied on fixed dates and clear rules; this Amendment has made those dates more suitable to modern conditions, and its provisions on a missing President-elect are among the few that guard against the risk of a vacuum at the top.