[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 110th Congress] [110th Congress] [House Document 109-157] [The United States Constitution] [Pages 65-77] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] ARTICLE II.
Sec. 149. Terms of the President and Vice President. | Section 1. \1\ The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four years, and together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: |
Sec. 150. Commencement of President's term of office. | George Washington took the oath of office, as the first President on April 30, 1789 (III, 1986). The two Houses of the First Congress found, after examination by a joint committee, that by provisions made in the Federal Constitution and by the Continental Congress, the term of the President had, notwithstanding, begun on March 4, 1789 (I, 3). The 20th amendment, declared to have been ratified on February 6, 1933, provides that Presidential terms shall end and successor terms shall begin at noon on January 20. Thus, Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term began on March 4, 1933, but ended at noon on January 20, 1937. Formerly, when March 4 fell on Sunday, the public inauguration of the President occurred at noon on March 5 (III, 1996; VI, 449). Following ratification of the 20th amendment, the first time inauguration day fell on Sunday was January 20, 1957, and Dwight David Eisenhower took the oath for his second term in a private ceremony at the White House on that day followed by a public inauguration ceremony on the steps of the East Front of the Capitol on Monday, January 21, 1957. A similar scenario was followed at the beginning of President Reagan's second term, with the oath being given at the White House on January 20, 1985, followed by a public ceremony on Mon |
Sec. 151. Electors of President and Vice President and their qualifications. | \2\ Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. |
Sec. 152. Questions as to qualifications of electors. | Questions of the qualifications of electors have arisen, and in one instance certain ones were found disqualified, but as their number was not sufficient to affect the result and as there was doubt as to what tribunal should pass on the question the votes were counted (III, 1941). In other cases there were objections, but the votes were counted (III, 1972-1974, 1979). In one instance an elector found to be disqualified resigned both offices, whereupon he was made eligible to fill the vacancy thus caused among electors (III, 1975). |
Sec. 152a. Original provision for failure of electoral college to choose, superseded by 12th amendment. | \3\ [The Electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Num |
Sec. 154. Qualifications of President of the United States. | \5\ No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. |
Sec. 155. Succession in case of removal, death, resignation, or disability of President and Vice President. | \6\ In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. |
Sec. 156. Resignation of the President. | Amendment XXV provides for filling a vacancy in the Office of the Vice President and, when the President is unable to perform the duties of his office, for the Vice President to assume those powers and duties as Acting President. During the 93d Congress, President Richard M. Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, by delivering a signed resignation to the Office of the Secretary of State, pursuant to 3 U.S.C. 20. Pursuant to amendment XXV, Vice President Gerald R. Ford became President and the House and Senate confirmed his nominee, Nelson A. Rockefeller, to become Vice President (December 19, 1974, p. 41516). |
Sec. 157. Compensation of President. | \7\ The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. |
Sec. 158. Oath of the President. | \8\ Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--``I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'' |
Sec. 159. Inauguration of the President. | The taking of this oath, which is termed the inauguration, is made the occasion of certain ceremonies that are arranged for by a joint committee of the two Houses (III, 1998, 1999; VI, 451). For many years the oath was normally taken at the east portico of the Capitol, although in earlier years it was taken in the Senate Chamber or Hall of the House (III, 1986-1995). On March 4, 1909, owing to inclemency of the weather, the President-elect took the oath and delivered his inaugural address in the Senate Chamber (VI, 447). And when Vice President Fillmore succeeded to the vacancy in the Office of President, Congress being in session, he took the oath in the Hall of the House in the presence of the Senate and House (III, 1997). In 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had been elected for his fourth term as President, took the oath of office on the south portico at the White House. On August 9, 1974, Gerald R. Ford, who as Vice President succeeded to the Presidency following the resignation of President Nixon on that day, was sworn in in the East Room of the White House. The West Front of the Capitol was first used for the inaugural ceremony for Ronald W. Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981. Because of extreme cold, the public administration of the oath was for the first time held in the Rotunda of the Capitol, rather than on the West Front, as scheduled, on January 21, 1985. Permission for such |
Sec. 160. The President the Commander in Chief. |
Section 2. \1\ The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called
into the actual Service of the United States; he may require
the < |
Sec. 163. War powers of Congress and the President. | In the 93d Congress, the Congress passed over the President's veto Public Law 93-148, relating to the power of Congress to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 (Sec. 127, supra) and the power of the President as Commander in Chief. For further discussion of the reports to Congress required and the procedure for congressional action provided under Public Law 93-148, see Sec. 128, supra. |
Sec. 164. Pardon of former President. | In 1974, President Ford exercised his power under the last phrase of this clause by pardoning former President Nixon for any crimes he might have committed during a certain period in office (Proclamation 4311, September 8, 1974). The former President had resigned on August 9, 1974, following the decision of the Committee on the Judiciary to report to the House a recommendation of impeachment (H. Rept. 93-1305, Aug. 20, 1974, p. 29219). |
Sec. 165. President makes treaties. | \2\ He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the |
Sec. 167. President's power to fill vacancies during recess of the Senate. | \3\ The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. |
Sec. 168. Messages from the President. | Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; * * * |
Sec. 169. Messages required by law. | By law (31 U.S.C. 1105), the President is required to transmit the Budget to Congress on or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February each year. In addition, he is required to submit a supplemental budget summary by July 16 each year (31 U.S.C. 1106). Submission of the Economic Report of the President is required within 10 days after the submission of the budget (15 U.S.C. 1022). The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 601) requires the transmittal to Congress by the President of amendments and revisions related to the budget on or before April 10 and July 15 of each year. In addition, the Act provides for the transmittal of messages proposing rescissions and deferrals of budget authority (2 U.S.C. 682). |
Sec. 170. Reception of messages from the President. | The ceremony of receiving a message in writing is simple (V, 6591), and may occur during consideration of a question of privilege (V, 6640-6642) or before the organization of the House (V, 6647-6649) and in the absence of a quorum (V, 6650; VIII, 3339; clause 7 of rule XX). |
Sec. 173. Impeachment of civil officers. | Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. |
Sec. 174. As to the officers who may be impeached. | In the Blount trial the managers contended that all citizens of the United States were liable to impeachment, but this contention was not admitted (III, 2315), and in the Belknap trial both managers and counsel for respondent agreed that a private citizen, apart from offense in an office, might not be impeached (III, 2007). But resignation of the office, does not prevent impeachment for crime or misdemeanor therein (III, 2007, 2317, 2444, 2445, 2459, 2509). In Blount's case it was decided that a Senator was not a civil officer within the meaning of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution (III, 2310, 2316). Questions have also arisen as to whether |
Sec. 175. Nature of impeachable offenses. | As to what are impeachable offenses there has been much discussion (III, 2008, 2019, 2020, 2356, 2362, 2379-2381, 2405, 2406, 2410, 2498, 2510; VI, 455; Impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, Committee on the Judiciary, H. Rept. 93-1305, Aug. 20, 1974, p. 29219; Associate Justice William O. Douglas, Final Report by the Special Subcommittee on H. Res. 920, Committee on the Judiciary, Sept. 17, 1970; Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, H. Rept. 105-830, Dec. 16, 1998). For a time the theory that indictable offenses only were impeachable was stoutly maintained and as stoutly denied (III, 2356, 2360-2362, 2379-2381, 2405, 2406, 2410, 2416); but on the 10th and 11th articles of the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson the House concluded to impeach for other than indictable offenses (III, 2418), and in the Swayne trial the theory was definitely abandoned (III, 2019). While there has not been definite concurrence in the claim of the managers in the trial of the President that an impeachable offense is any misbehavior that shows disqualification to hold and exercise the office, whether moral, intellectual, or physical (III, 2015), yet the House has impeached judges for improper personal habits (III, 2328, 2505), and in the impeachment of the President one of the articles charged him with ``intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues'' in public addresses, tending to the harm of the Government (III, 2420). There was no conviction under these charges except in the single case of Judge Pickering, who was charged with intoxication on the bench (III, 2328-2341). As to the impeachment of judges for other delinquencies, there has been much contention as to whether they may be impeached for any breach of good behavior (III, 2011, 2016, 2497), or only for judicial misconduct occurring in the actual administration of justice in connection with the court (III, 2010, 2013, 2017). The intent of the judge (III, 2014, 2382) as related to mistakes of the law, and the relations of intent to conviction have been discussed at length (III, 2014, 2381, 2382, 2518, 2519). The statutes make nonresidence of a judge an impeachable offense, and the House has taken steps to impeach for this cause (III, 2476, 2512). There has, however, been some question as to the power of Congress to make an impeachable offense (III, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2512). Usurpation of power has been examined several |
Sec. 176. Later impeachment inquiries. | The articles of impeachment adopted by the House in 1936 against Judge Ritter charged a variety of judicial misconduct, including violations of criminal law. The seventh and general article, upon which Judge Ritter was convicted by the Senate, charged general misconduct to bring his court into scandal and disrepute and to destroy public confidence in his court and in the judicial system (Impeachment by the House, Mar. 2, 1936, p. 3091; Conviction by the Senate, Apr. 17, 1936, p. 5606). Following his conviction by the Senate, former Judge Ritter brought an action for back salary, contending that the Senate had tried and convicted him for nonimpeachable offenses. The U.S. Court of Claims held that the Senate's power to try impeachments was exclusive and not subject to judicial review. Ritter v. United States, 84 Ct. Cls. 293 (1936), cert. denied, 300 U.S. 668 (1937). |